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SAXON PEASANT FAMILY, TRANSYLVANIA 



THE WHIRLPOOL 
OF EUROPE 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND 
THE HABSBURGS 



BY 

ARCHIBALD R. COLQUHOUN 

Author of "China in Transformation," 
"The Mastery of the Pacific;' etc. 

AND 

ETHEL COLQUHOUN 

Author of "T<wo on Their Travels" 



WITH MAPS, DIAGRAMS, 
AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



NEW YORK 

DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 

1907 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

MAR 9 1907 

. Copyright Entry 

7H^. 9. tqcy 

CUSS OU XXc„ No, 
COPY B 






Copyright, 1907, by 

Dodd, Mead & Company 

Published, March, 1907 



PREFACE 

This book is designed to meet the wants of the general 
reader, who, without time or inclination for historical and 
political research, is yet anxious to understand the events 
that are taking place in Central and Southern Europe. 
The authors believe that there is no book in the English 
language — and perhaps none in any language — which 
gathers up all the loose strands of this tangled web and 
weaves them together into a coherent whole. Many valu- 
able studies and monographs have been written on various 
phases or sections of the subject, but of Austria-Hungary 
as a whole, of the political, racial, and social evolution of 
the countries over which the Habsburg Emperor-King 
holds sway, there exists at present no account to which 
the reader can turn. The paramount importance of the 
Austro-Hungarian question in European politics, and the 
crisis which seems to be impending in the affairs of the 
Dual Monarchy, are enough in themselves to attract atten- 
tion, but apart from them this Whirlpool of Europe is a 
region full of interest, packed with historical associations 
of the most entrancing character and at the same time puls- 
ing with modern life and the problems of social and polit- 
ical development. It has been well said that nowhere 
else in Europe is the past so intermingled with the present, 
and under the Emperor-King Francis Joseph one may study 
at the same time every phase of European civilisation, and 



vi PREFACE 

every kind of question, racial, political, and social, which 
has agitated Europe in the last two centuries. 

No attempt has been made, either in text or illustra- 
tions, to do justice to the wonderful scenery which is the 
framework of this picture of national and political evo- 
lution. To do so would involve not one but several 
volumes, and the present work is merely an outline which 
the reader may fill in at his leisure by reference to more 
detailed studies. The authors feel that the historical 
sketch may alarm some readers by its scope, but it was 
found impossible to give a true impression of modern 
Austria and Hungary without tracing their connection with 
the extinct Holy Roman Empire and the modern German 
one, or without following, from its earliest stages, the 
career of the House of Habsburg. The key to the situa- 
tion lies to a great extent in the historical evolution of the 
various parts of the Dual Monarchy and in their relations 
to the ruling house. 

A word of explanation must be given with regard to the 
illustrations. It was felt that it was better to sacrifice 
completeness to interest in this matter, and since the num- 
ber had to be limited, the selection was made of those 
which were likely to be new or unfamiliar to an English 
and American audience. Thus all the photographs of 
Vienna available (which do not do justice to that beautiful 
city and convey the impression of commonplace moder- 
nity) have been eliminated. Viennese and other Austrian 
city types are too similar to those familiar in Germany to 
be of special interest. Certain of the most beautiful and 
interesting parts of Austria, like the Alpine region, are_ 



PREFACE vii 

also well known, and it is for that reason, and not be- 
cause they are unappreciated, that they are not more fully 
illustrated in this book. These are the only omissions, for 
very little of the Dual Monarchy is known by the outside 
world; and Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, Dalmatia, 
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Transylvania, Galicia, and 
Bukowina were fields which offered a bewildering choice 
of beautiful and interesting subjects for illustration. The 
peasant costumes and types have been given preference 
because, at a time when these distinctions are rapidly dis- 
appearing in Europe, they have a special interest. In 
every case care has been exercised to get real peasants 
(and not theatrical ones) in their native costumes, and to 
ensure that all the illustrations should be thoroughly 
characteristic. 

The authors' thanks are due to many people for aid in 
obtaining these unique illustrations, but especially to Mr. 
J. Eckhert, of Prague, for unrivalled pictures of Bohemian 
types, archiecture, and scenery; to Mr. Mosinger, of 
Agram, who supplied the beautiful studies from Croatia 
and some of those from Hungary; to Mr. Francis Hopp, 
of Budapest, who kindly collected many of the Hungarian 
types and some of the pictures of the Hungarian capital; 
to the Countess Mikes, of Zabola, Transylvania, for 
pictures of exceptional interest from that country; to the 
Hungarian Government; to the Municipality of Prague; 
to the provincial Governments of Galicia and of Bosnia- 
Herzegovina (especially to Mr. Hermann in the last- 
named country) , and to a number of other people, private 
friends and officials alike, who took endless trouble to 



via PREFACE 

assist the authors in obtaining the collection of photo- 
graphs in this volume. The Austrian Government also 
most kindly gave permission to reproduce certain of the 
drawings in the " Oesterreich-Ungarische Monarchic in 
Wort und Bild." The maps (with the exception of the 
frontispiece) are sketch maps only, but they have been 
specially prepared and illustrate the historical evolution of 
Austria-Hungary in a graphic manner. 

In a work which is intended for the general reader, and 
not the student, it has been thought unnecessary to burden 
the text with references. Naturally the writing of this 
book involved, besides personal knowledge of the coun- 
tries and peoples and first-hand investigation, a vast 
amount of reading. It is impossible to acknowledge fully 
a debt of information culled from so many sources, but 
special mention must be made of certain books, and a list 
of these is appended. 

It is also impossible to acknowledge individually all 
the help given by private individuals, many of whom are 
well known in the world of letters and affairs; but the 
names of Count Louis Ambrozy and of Professor Henri 
Marczali must be specially mentioned; and to Dr. A. Sum, 
the honorary secretary of the Bohemian section of the 
Austrian exhibition in London, thanks are due for valuable 
assistance and for putting the authors in touch with many 
Bohemian sources of information. 

The formidable list of authorities must not lead the 
reader to suppose that there is little original matter in 
the book, and for the observation of modern life and 
character, and the diagnosis of the political situation, per- 



PREFACE ix 

sonal observation, during the spring and summer of 1906, 
is chiefly responsible. It would be impossible to form any 
impartial judgment without some personal knowledge, 
since the French and German authorities, to whom one 
must turn for detailed studies, shew a distinct bias, the 
former in favour of the Slavs and Magyars, the latter for 
the German element. It is necessary to make this clear, 
since it would be unfair to saddle any of the authorities 
mentioned, living or dead, with conclusions with which 
they might not be in sympathy. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Realm of the Habsburgs i 

II. The Coming of Slav and Magyar . . 23 

III. The Story of Hungary ..... 38 

IV. The Story of Bohemia . . . . . 5 1 
V. The House of Habsburg and Modern Europe 71 



VI. The Austrians ..... 

VII. Hungary and the Hungarians 
VIII. The Slavs ...... 

IX. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia 
X. State Organisations .... 

XI. Some Internal Problems 
XII. Pan-Germanism ..... 

XIII. Pan-Slavism ...... 

XIV. Politics and Politicians 

XV. Foreign Relations — Austria-Hungary and 
Europe ...... 

XVI. The Dual Monarchy and the Dynasty 
Appendix v I- Distribution of Population in Aus 

TRIA-HUNGARY .... 

" J II. Racial Proportions in Austria and 
Hungary ..... 



11 v HI. List of Chief Authorities Consulted 341 

Index 343 

General Map ...... End of book 



9i 
112 

157 
187 
200 

237 
250 
268 
289 

3i8 
329 

339 

340 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Frontispiece. Saxon Peasant Family. 



FACING PAGE 

Slav Peasants from Ciceria, near Trieste. (G. Wulz, 

Trieste) . . . . . . .26 

Typical Bosnian Town ...... 28 

Huzulians, Ruthenian Highlands, in Summer Dress . 32 

A Group of Ruthenians, Bukowina .... 32 

A Hungarian Horseboy. (Stahl Vilmos, Budapest) . 36 

A Magyar Peasant Woman. (Stahl Vilmos, Budapest) . 36 
Procession of St. Stephen. (Hopp) .... 38* 

Magyar Girls in Holiday Dress. (Zelesny, Pecsett) . 48' 

Hradcany (Royal Castle), Prague. (Eckhert, Prague) . 56 
A Bohemian Castle. (J. Eckhert, Prague) ... 66 
Street in Tabor. (Sechtl and Vosecek, Tabor) . . 66 

Slovenes from Carniola . . . . . .92* 

Carinthian Peasant Girls ...... 92 

A Bosnian Country Cart . . . . .96 

Tyrolean Village Street. (Gratl, Innsbruck) . . 98 

Tyrolean Farm. (Gratl, Innsbruck) .... 98 

Winnowing Wheat, Bosnia ..... 102 

Typical Farmhouse. (Gratl, Innsbruck) . . . 106 

Village Feast. (Gratl, Innsbruck) .... 106 

A Bosnian Playground . . . . . .110 

Farmyard Labourers, on Puszta. (Mosinger, Agram) . 114' 
Csikos, on Puszta, near Debreczen. (Mosinger, Agram) . 114 
Scene on Puszta . . . . . . .116 



xiv ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 

Shepherd and Dog on Puszta. (Mosinger, Agram) . 
Cattleherds on Hortobagyon. (Mosinger, Agram) . 
Hungarian Peasant Wedding. (Zelesny, Pecsett) 
Hungarian Farmhouse and Peasants. (Zelesny, Pecsett) 
Magyar Peasants near Budapest. (Stahl Vilmos, Budapest) 
Gypsy Type, Hungary .... 

Funeral of a Hungarian Artist. (Hopp) 

Past and Present, Gyspy Cart and Electric Tram. (Hopp) 

Gypsy Women and Children, Bosnia 

Honved and Mounted Police. (Photoglob, Brasso) . 

Group of Hungarian Peasants. (Mosinger, Agram) 

Lacemaker, Transylvania ..... 

Rouman (Wallach) Woman. (Koller, K., Budapest) 
Rouman Peasants from S. E. Hungary. (Hopp) 
Village Workers, Transylvania. (Photoglob, Brasso) 
National Dance (Roumanian). (Photoglob, Brasso) 
In the High Tatra ....... 

Csorba Lake * . 

Royal Castle, Budapest. (Alois Beer, Klagenfurt) 

Bohemian Peasant Type. (Liska, Tindrichuv Hradec) 

Bohemian Fete Dress. (Liska, Tindrichuv Hradec) 

Bohemian Peasant Type. (Liska, Tindrichuv Hradec ) 

Charles IV. Bridge, Prague. (Eckhert, Prague) 

Market Place, Prague. (Eckhert, Prague) 

Chods, Peasants from W. Bohemia. (Eckhert, Prague) 

Chods, Peasants from W. Bohemia. (Eckhert, Prague) 

A Bohemian Landscape. (Langhans, Prague) 

A Wayside Shrine, Bohemia. (Langhans, Prague) 

Czartoryski Museum, Cracow 

The Rotunda, Cracow 

Hanacka, Central Moravia. (Eckhert, Prague) 

Slovaks, East Moravia. (Eckhert, Prague) 

A Croatian Woman. (Mosinger, Agram) 

Croatian Peasants. (Mosinger, Agram) 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Croatians in National Dress. 



xv 

FACING PAGE 

(Mosinger, 



(Photoglob, Zurich) 



Two Little 

Agram) .... 

Herzegovina Woman in Bridal Dress 

Bosnian Peasant House 

Bogomile Tomb 

Sarajevo, from the North 

Mostar, Capital of Herzegovina . 

Slipper Seller, Sarajevo 

Roasting Lambs, Bosnia 

Coast Scenery, Ragusa. 

Street Scene, Ragusa . 

Jewish Types, Galicia 

Ruthenians from Cracow 

Taking Hay to Market, Herzegovina 

Market Place, Budapest 

Street and Market, Sarajevo 

Peasant Wedding, Galicia 

St. Barbara Church, Cracow 

Jagellon University Library, Cracow 

Catholic Servians, Mohacs. (Zelesny, Pecsett) 

Hungarian Women, Mohacs on Danube. (Zelesny, Pecsett) 

Old Franciscan Cloisters, Ragusa. (Photoglob, Zurich) 

Slav Peasants from near Trieste. (G. Wulz, Trieste) (2) 

Slovak Woman in Holiday Dress. (Stahl Vilmos, Buda- 
pest) ........ 

Slovak Peasants from Csomad. (Stahl Vilmos, Budapest) 

Catholic Villagers, Herzegovina 

Country Fair, Bosnia 

Watercarriers, Herzegovina 

Statue of King Stephen. (Wurthle, Salzburg) 

Bosnian Fishery, Winter 

A Bosnian Falconer .... 

Village Gypsies, Transylvania 

Nomadic Gypsies .... 



184 

186^ 

188 

188 

190 

192 

194 

194 

196 

198 

208 

208 

222 

238 

242 

256 

256 

272 

278 

278 

280 

282 

284 
284 
286 
296 
306 
316 
322 
324 
334 
334 



XVI 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



LIST OF SKETCH MAPS 



800 A. D. 



1 190 






> 






IO 


1360 






. 






H 


1519 






. 






16 


1648 






. 






18 


1740 






• 






20 


1789 






> 






22 


1809-12 






. 






72 


1814-50 






. 






74 


1906 






. 






88 


General Map of Austria-Hungary . , 






339 


LIST OF DIAGRAMS 


PAGE 


Races In Austria-Hungary ... .23 


Races in Hungary 


,...€. 


. 112 


Slavs of Austria-Hungary and Ball: 


ans . 


157 


Races in Bohemia 


. . . . 


161 


Races in th 


2 Tyre 


>1 ., 


... 




. 


264 



FACING PAGE 
2 



CHAPTER I 

THE REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 

There is, in reality, no collective title for the agglomera- 
tion of territories called Austria-Hungary. The House of 
Habsburg is merely the connecting link between many 
distinct parts, not only by virtue of conquest or annexa- 
tion, but also by inheritance and by the right of long 
possession. It has to be clearly understood that the 
fact of mutual dislikes among the various peoples of 
Austria-Hungary does not necessarily impair their loyalty 
to the house which has stood for so long a period as the 
acknowledged representative to each of the kingly power, 
the keystone of the social and political system, not only 
of the whole realm, but of each separate part of it. To 
understand the growth of this Habsburg realm, it is neces- 
sary to trace its connection with the old Holy Roman 
Empire and the modern German one, and also to briefly 
recall the histories, not only of the two kingdoms of 
Hungary and Bohemia, but that of the archduchy of 
Austria. None of these territories were originally the 
appanages of the Habsburgs, but to-day they and their 
dependencies form together the soi-distant empire over 
which that family rules. 

The beginnings of the Habsburgs were small. Their 
family took its name from a castle on the Aar, in southern 
Swabia, now included in the Swiss republic. From a 



2 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

romantic legend this castle, built by the Bishop of Strass- 
burg, in 1027, was called Habichtsburg, "hawk castle." 
To-day the cradle of the greatest imperial line is fallen 
into decay. In the wars of Swiss independence, in 1386- 
1474, it was partially destroyed, and, although offers have 
been made to the Swiss to buy and restore it to the 
Habsburgs, they have not been accepted, for with it 
is bound up the proud history of the successful revolt 
of the confederated cantons against their overlords. Part 
of the castle is in ruins and other parts are now a stable 
and an inn. The Counts of Habsburg trace their origin 
back to a count of Upper Alsace in the tenth century, and 
even, with less certainty, to Gontran, Duke of Alsace and 
Lorraine, in the seventh century. Their Swabian do- 
minions were, however, divided from Alsace by the free 
territory of the city of Basel. In time the marriages of 
the Habsburg Counts (the first sign of the successful 
matrimonial policy of later years) united their lands with 
those of the Counts of Kyburg and Lenzburg, and gave 
them a long and scattered domain lying in and out of 
the Swiss mountains and valleys, taking in Lucerne and 
including the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden. 
The free city of Zurich formed a thorn in their sides, 
and the independence so often characteristic of mountain 
peoples caused the inhabitants of this region to begin very 
early their agitation for self-government. 

It is, therefore, as simple German counts, with scat- 
tered and not too wealthy domains and far from peaceable 
subjects, that we first find the Habsburgs, and this was 
their condition in the thirteenth century, when Rudolf, 




.tors of HabefeuTgh //// 




Empire of Charlemagne llll Byzantine Empire = Ancestors of HabsW^h 



REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 3 

Count of Habsburg, was elected emperor of the Holy 
Roman Empire. It is necessary, in order to understand 
the full meaning of this promotion, to go back to the time 
of Charlemagne and briefly describe the foundation and 
evolution of the Holy Roman Empire. 

When the Roman Empire crumbled finally into dust 
the tradition was still continued by the Byzantine Caesars, 
who claimed a nominal allegiance from Italy as well as 
from all regions where men still recognised their connec- 
tion with the Roman Empire. While the temporal power 
of Rome was thus in abeyance the Church, with its head 
at the ancient seat of Empire, began to assume a quasi- 
imperial position, and in the eighth century the Pope, Leo 
III., entertained the bold idea that, by reviving the im- 
perial title and prerogatives in the person of a great living 
monarch, a new and Christian empire might actually take 
the place of the old one. The fact that a really great man 
had already made himself master of a large part of 
Europe was, no doubt, mainly responsible for the inspira- 
tion, and, as the only representative of the Caesars was 
the blood-stained Empress Irene at Byzantium, it seemed 
an excellent opportunity to found a new empire while bor- 
rowing the prestige of the old one. Consequently Charle- 
magne was crowned Emperor of the Romans at Rome on 
Christmas Day, 800 A. D., and this was the foundation 
of the Romano-Germanic empire. The circumstance that 
Charlemagne was a Frank, and the founder of a line 
of kings who ruled at Paris, somewhat obscures the fact 
of his Teutonic origin. Charlemagne was a Teuton pur 
sang. His great grandfather, Pepin, was mayor of the 



4 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

palace in Austrasia; that is, in the eastern section of the 
territory of the Teutonic Frankish kings, who had estab- 
lished themselves on the ruins of the Roman Empire. His 
grandfather, Charles Martel, ruled without the title of 
king both sections of the Frankish domains, and his son, 
Pepin, finally united them and acquired other territories, 
which he ruled as king of the Franks. Charlemagne him- 
self inherited Austrasia, but, by dispossessing other mem- 
bers of the family and by his successful campaigns, became 
ruler of all (modern) France, part of Germany, the 
northern half of Italy, and part of Spain. The centre 
of his empire was the Rhine, his favourite residence 
at Aachen (Aix la Chapelle) , and, although he obtained 
his imperial dignity by a nominal revival of the empire 
of the Caesars, it was as a Teuton monarch that he regarded 
himself. The period in which he and the traditions of 
his house were the dominating influences in the empire 
created by him must, therefore, be regarded as a Teu- 
tonising period, and this character became more distinctive 
when, by the Treaty of Verdun (843) in the reign of his 
grandsons the western half of the empire, which con- 
tained a Gaulo-Romanic people, split off from the German 
part and began to re-form itself as modern France. The 
Imperial title eventually followed the Teutonic half of the 
empire, and although the Franconian emperors, who were 
the lineal descendants of Charlemagne, had territories as 
wide as those of their great ancestors, they were gained 
by expansion eastward over the Slavs. 

From the first the office of Emperor was elective, and 
until the thirteenth century there was no fixed procedure. 



REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 5 

The ancient custom of the Germanic tribes of choosing 
their leader from the military chiefs was merely carried 
out on a larger scale by all the nobles and chief lieges. 
The position of the Emperor was much the same as that 
of the successful warrior who was chosen to lead the 
tribes. The primitive instinct of choosing their chief 
had, however, to contend with the equally primitive in- 
stinct in the chosen to secure the rights he possessed for 
his descendants; and although the Empire was elective 
and not dynastic, the Franconian dynasty actually held it 
from 1024 to 1 125; the Hohenstaufens from 1138 to 
1254; the Luxembourgs for four reigns (not continuous) ; 
and the Habsburgs for nearly four centuries, with only one 
short interruption of twenty-three years. Out of the rude 
form of election by general consent grew the assumption 
of electoral preorogatives by certain of the great nobles, 
and in 1356 the Golden Bull of Charles IV. fixed the 
mode of procedure, afterwards followed with little varia- 
tion until the empire dissolved in the beginning of the 
nineteenth century. The electors were fixed at seven, a 
mystic number, supposed in the Middle Ages to have spe- 
cial properties. These princely electors enjoyed great 
prestige and privileges, and were called after obsolete 
offices in the old Roman empire. Three were ecclesiastical 
lords — the so-called chancellors of the three ancient king- 
doms of Gaul and Burgundy, of Germany, and of Italy — 
and the other four were the King of Bohemia, Count Pala- 
tine of the Rhine, Duke of Saxony, and Margrave of 
Brandenburg. To these was added, in 1692, the house 
of Brunswick, at that time ruling in Hanover, by which 



6 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

means it happened that, until the Salic law separated Han- 
over from England, the English king of the house of 
Brunswick was an elector in the Holy Romano-Germanic 
empire. The actual tie has never been nearer than this, 
although it might have been, since the Imperial crown 
was offered by the electors to Edward III., in 1347, but 
was refused. 

The election after 1356 was appointed to take place 
on true Frankish soil, at Frankfort, where in later times 
the Imperial diet was to meet. This diet, constituted in 
1356, was made up of three bodies — electors, princes, and 
cities — with the result that, as princes and cities were 
frequently at variance, they formed leagues and even 
made alliances outside the empire, while the Emperor had 
to balance himself between them as best he could. The 
title borne from the eleventh century was " Romanorum 
Rex," x the actual " Imperator " being reserved by cus- 
tom until the candidate had been crowned by the Pope 
at Rome in the basilica of St. Peter's. Many never 
achieved this distinction, and only one Habsburg was 
actually crowned at Rome, but after the fifteenth century 
a compromise was arrived at, and Maximilian I., being 
unable to reach Rome by reason of the hostility of the 

1 The Carolingian emperors after Charlemagne were styled simply 
"Imperator Augustus." Otho III., 983, was crowned at Rome with this 
title, prefixing Romanorum; but he and his successors were also crowned 
at Aachen and Milan as "Rex Francorum," or simply "Rex." After 
their coronation at Rome all smaller titles were discarded, but for a con- 
siderable period they underwent four distinct coronations, as King of the 
Franks at Aachen, King of Italy at Monza or Milan, King of Burgundy 
at Aries, and Emperor at Rome. 



REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 7 

Venetians, obtained a bull authorising the use of the title 
" Emperor-Elect " (Imperator Electus) , to which in 1508, 
he added " Germanise Rex." This, therefore, continued 
to be the correct official title as long as the Empire lasted, 
but throughout the Middle Ages and down to modern 
times there was only one Emperor in Europe, and as " The 
Emperor " he wore his proud title without any qualifying 
phrase. It soon became the custom for the Emperor's 
son to be crowned king during his father's lifetime, and 
it was as part of Napoleon's scheme for reviving the 
ancient world-empire that he caused his ill-fated son to be 
entiled " King of the Romans." This last little King 
of the Romans was also, by a curious fate, a Habsburg on 
his mother's side. 

But it is a " far cry " from the castle of Habichtsburg 
and the simple Swabian counts to the headship of the 
empire of Charlemagne. This, in fact, endured but a 
short time and, although under Otho the Great (936) 
it enjoyed a real renascence, its character gradually 
changed. It was only from the time of Otho that the right 
of the king, elected by the German states to the imperial 
title and the kingdom of Italy, was fully recognised 
throughout Europe, so that he may justly be regarded, 
not so much as the successor of Charlemagne, as the 
founder of a fresh Romano-Germanic empire. One of the 
determining forces in mediaeval history was the antago- 
nism between the Popes and the Emperors, which was the 
result of a continual struggle as to whether the para- 
mountry of the Empire should be temporal or spiritual. 
The religious fervour of the Crusades was largely stimu- 



8 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

lated by the Church, to maintain her position in men's 
eyes and to appeal to their imagination and love of ad- 
venture, but at the same time the growth of the feudal 
system, by strengthening the power of the great nobles 
and reducing the peasantry to serfdom, was setting up a 
number of petty rulers who wished to be independent of 
all domination. The Church herself competed with the 
feudal lords in the extent of her possessions and the arro- 
gance of her ecclesiastical princes, and so it came about 
that the Emperor frequently was the rallying point 
for the lay feudatories of the empire, while the Church 
waged war through its own great lieges. The wars of 
the Guelphs and Ghibellines had their origin and motif 
in this age-long contest, the Guelphs or Welfs being the 
supporters of the Popes, while the Ghibellines took their 
name from a town (Waibelingen) whence the Hohen- 
staufen emperors came. The crux of the dispute was in 
the matter of lay investiture. The Pope claimed entire 
jurisdiction over all Church lands, and as these com- 
prised about one-half the best territories in the German 
states it was impossible to concede this without raising 
up a second imperial power. 

The endeavours of the Emperors, German rulers, to 
assert their power over Italy, led to a series of disasters, 
and the German period ends with the last of the Hohen- 
staufens, who, having inherited Italian possessions, per- 
ished in his attempt to secure them, while remaining as a 
German monarch independent of, and even hostile to, the 
Pope. During this period the growing independence of 
Italy, despite the pretensions of the Emperor, was in 



REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 9 

reality acting as a consolidating force on the Empire, and 
the internal development of some of the great feudatories 
led to the beginnings of a real German nationalism. 

One of these great feudatories was Austria, of which 
the beginning was the Ost-mark, or Eastern march, set 
on the frontiers against the Magyars. This region lay 
on the Danube, between Bohemia, Moravia, and the duchy 
of Carinthia. The ancient Roman city of Vindobona (in 
the Roman province of Pannonia), believed to have been 
the mother of Vienna, was its chief town, and although 
surrounded by Slav countries a process of Germanisation 
made considerable advances. In 983 the Emperor Otho 
bestowed the Ost-mark on the House of Babenberg, which 
reigned there for over two and a half centuries, and at the 
court of the Babenbergs German minstrels and minne- 
singers were gathered, and the whole country fell under 
German civilisation. 

The accession of the Swabian house of Hohenstaufen 
to the Empire, and the relations of the Margrave with 
Frederick Barbarossa 2 led to the elevation of the Ost- 
mark to the rank of a duchy in the twelfth century, and 
in the reign of the third duke, Frederick, the boundaries 
of the duchy were increased, and its ruler hoped by Im- 
perial favour to be able to raise it to the rank of a 
kingdom. His death, fighting against the Magyars, in 
1246, led to the extinction of the House of Babenberg, 
and the Emperor Frederick II. at once laid claim to the 
duchies of Austria and Styria as liege lands of the empire. 

2 The affix " Holy " to the title " Roman Empire " dates from the reign 
of Frederick Barbarossa. 



io THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Another competitor for these was the powerful king 
Premysl Ottocar of Bohemia, who was descended by his 
mother from the Babenbergs, and after many wars against 
Hungary he succeeded in annexing Austria and Styria, 
in 1260, while a few years later he added Carniola. A 
strange concatenation of circumstances led to the passing 
of Austria to a third house — that of Habsburg. The ter- 
rible conflict between the Emperor Frederick II. (who 
was by inheritance an Italian as well as a German mon- 
arch), and the Holy See (whose supremacy was threat- 
ened by his ambition and lack of orthodoxy), ended by 
the death of Frederick in 1250, and as his only legitimate 
descendant was killed shortly afterwards the house of 
Hohenstaufen became extinct. 

The greatest confusion followed, and an interregnum 
lasted for twenty-five years. Although the Empire wa9 
revived in name it had no longer the character either of the 
one founded by Charlemagne or of that reconstructed by 
Otho the Great. On the other hand the loss of the Imperial 
power in Italy was ultimately of advantage in building 
up a new Empire round a purely German centre. A num- 
ber of competitors for the Imperial dignity were chosen 
by rival factions, but each was vanquished in turn either 
by the Pope, the Lombard cities, or the German princes. 
The title might, in fact, have been allowed to drop, with 
the semblance of an empire, but the Germans were loath 
to lose the pretensions to a dignity which gave one of 
their number a position, in appearance, above all other 
European monarchs. At the same time they were averse 
to such a process of centralisation as that which in France 




riabsbur^k Counts //// 




The empire in the reign of Frederick BarWossa. llll Byzaniine Em] 



Emigre = HabsUrgk Counts 



REALM OF THE HABSBURGS u 

was making that country strong and homogeneous. The 
monarchy there, like that of England, was built up by a 
steady concentration on one point and the gradual reduc- 
tion of the great feudatories. Germany, on the contrary, 
in an attempt to retain European hegemony and in a disas- 
trous struggle with the Papal power, dispersed instead of 
concentrating her power and remained a loose agglomera- 
tion of petty states. The electors constantly resisted the 
attempt to make the Imperial office hereditary, nor were 
they anxious that it should be exercised by the strongest 
of their number. Therefore, although they offered it to 
Ottocar of Bohemia, they were relieved when he refused 
it and proceeded, without his sanction, to elect another 
prince, not for his strength and influence, but because he 
was credited with sagacity and prudence and would avoid 
collision with the Pope. This prince was Rudolf, Count 
of Habsburg, and he justified the expectations formed of 
him, making no attempt on Italy and not even seeking to 
be crowned at Rome. 

Rudolf became Roman king in 1273 — the full Imperial 
title, as we have seen, being reserved for those crowned 
by the Pope. His title was resisted by Premysl Ottocar 
of Bohemia, who finally fell fighting against him and 
having lost Austria and the other duchies, left Bohemia to 
his infant son. This was the great opportunity of the 
Habsburgs, who, as simple Suabian counts, had no special 
power or importance and might have slipped back into 
obscurity. Rudolf at once claimed Austria and Styria as 
liege-lands of the crown, and, securing the consent of the 
Estates, conferred these duchies, as well as the province 



12 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

of Carinthia, on his sons Albert and Rudolf. The duchies 
did not accept their new masters without remonstrance, 
and Vienna actually revolted and was only subdued by 
force of arms. Albert eventually succeeded to both the 
duchies, and added to them by wars with his neighbours, 
acquiring Carniola. When his father died, the electors, 
anxious to avoid any appearance of hereditary succession 
to the Imperial throne, set up Adolf of Nassau, but on 
the death of that monarch in 1298 Albert was allowed to 
succeed, and he increased the position of the House of 
Habsburg substantially. In 1306 the last of the Bohemian 
dynasty of Premyslides — grandson of Ottocar — died, and 
Albert then claimed Bohemia as a fief of the empire, or 
rather as a family estate, desiring to force on it his son 
Rudolf. Although Bohemia resisted this successfully she 
never again enjoyed a national dynasty, but in order to 
escape from the Habsburgs elected to her throne a mem- 
ber of the House of Luxembourg, at this period one of the 
greatest rivals of the Habsburgs. This house held sway 
in Bohemia for 120 years. 

On the death of Albert the Imperial crown passed from 
the Habsburgs, although his son Frederick was actually 
elected and crowned at Cologne. His claims were dis- 
puted successfully by Louis of Bavaria and during the 
fourteenth century the imperial dignity was contested by 
the Luxembourgs and the Bavarians with varying results. 
During this period the Austrian dukes steadily increased 
in power. Their family possessions were constantly di- 
vided, but invariably reunited again under some mem- 
ber of the house. Albert's sons reigned after him in 



REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 13 

succession, and the eldest, Rudolf, who was married at 
nineteen to a daughter of the Emperor Charles IV. (of 
the House of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia), deserves 
mention as one of the real founders of the house. He was 
disappointed by the non-recognition of Austria in the 
Golden Bull (whereby his father-in-law, Charles, settled 
the electoral college of the empire) , in which Austria had 
no place, although she was a large state and already two 
emperors had been chosen from her. Rudolf accordingly 
resorted to a stratagem, and by means of an elaborate 
forgery maintained that the Dukes of Austria had been 
granted special independence and privileges by previous 
emperors, and had electoral rights. Although Charles re- 
fused to ratify these pretensions, he eventually agreed to 
a compromise whereby the houses of Luxembourg and 
Habsburg respectively agreed to guarantee each other's 
possessions. Rudolf also gained the Tyrol by one of those 
deeds of inheritance so frequent in the history of the 
Habsburgs, which always seemed to turn to their advan- 
tage. By a similar deed he prepared the way for the an- 
nexation, later on, of Carinthia, and thus his German and 
Swabian possessions were consolidated and the way opened 
to Italy. Rudolf is also known as the founder of the 
University of Vienna and of the cathedral of St. Stephen, 
which he began in 1356. After his death his two brothers 
divided the family lands into the duchies of Austria and 
Styria. 

In 1437 the Emperor Sigismund, who by inheritance 
had become King of Hungary and Bohemia, died without 
a son, and his successor was Albert of Austria, the hus- 



14 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

band of his daughter. Albert was elected Emperor in 
1438, and thus for the first time we see the union of Aus- 
tria, Hungary, and Bohemia under an Imperial head of the 
House of Habsburg. From this time the Imperial crown 
remained in the family, but the older line, the house of 
Austria, became extinct in 1457, and the Styrian house 
succeeded it. 

The Styrian branch brought with it Carinthia, Car- 
niola, the Tyrol, and the town of Trieste, the last of great 
importance as affording an outlet to the sea. The early 
possessions of the Habsburgs were, however, being di- 
minished by the rising independence of the Swiss. As early 
as 13 13 the " forest cantons " revolted against their count, 
who was also Duke of Austria, and, as already mentioned, 
in the early part of the fourteenth century they destroyed 
the castle of Habichtsburg, which has remained in partial 
ruins ever since. Although the Swiss cantons and cities 
did not gain full recognition of their independence till 
toward the end of the fifteenth century, they had already 
secured a measure of it, and not even the accession of 
the Count of Habsburg to the Imperial title could secure 
him in his ancient rights over them. One of the Styrian 
counts, Ernest, who ruled at Gratz from 1408-39 and 
was known as the " Man of Iron," married Cymburga, 
a Polish lady, daughter of the Duke of Mazovia, and 
she is said to have bequeathed to her descendants the 
" Habsburg lip." She was mother to the Emperor Fred- 
erick III., and grandmother to Maximilian. 

The succession of the Styrian line to the Austrian duchy 
was not accomplished without disputes between various 




The Empire m theXINTCenti 




The Empire m fheXJV ,h Centu,ry llll J"We of -Hamburgh E astern Empire 

Kingdom of Hungary \w 



REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 15 

branches of the house, but eventually it passed to Duke 
Frederick III., who in 1440 succeeded Albert as Emperor. 
He made Austria an archduchy and augmented the family 
possessions, and was also the first monarch to use the 
monogram A. E. I. O. U., which, variously interpreted, 
is generally taken to stand for Austria est imperare orbi 
universo — an empty boast quite in character with the 
rhetoric of the period. Frederick used this monogram on 
his pottery and had it stamped on his books. He did not 
hold his patrimony without struggles, and even Vienna 
revolted against him and besieged him in his own castle, 
an incident never forgotten by his son Maximilian who, 
as a child, suffered the pangs of hunger in this siege and 
never forgave the Viennese, making Augsburg his fav- 
ourite residence. In Frederick's time an enemy appeared 
whose dreaded incursions were destined to draw Slav, 
Magyar, and German together and unite them against the 
assault of the Crescent. His family possessions as well 
as the imperial title were handed on by him to Maximilian, 
who also inherited the Netherlands through his wife. It 
was the successful matrimony policy of Maximilian in ar- 
ranging the marriages of his grandson and granddaughter 
which eventually led to the reuniting of the crowns of 
Hungary and Bohemia under the Habsburgs, after the dis- 
aster of Mohacs in 1526. 

From this time the history of the House of Austria or 
the Habsburgs is intimately linked with that of Hungary, 
Bohemia, and the old and new German empires. Bo- 
hemian independence was lost after the battle of the 
White Mountain, in 161 8, but Hungary never ceased, 



16 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

save for a short period under Leopold I, (1687), to 
be an elective monarchy, albeit she recognised the heredi- 
tary claims of the House of Habsburg. 

The family policy of the Habsburgs has always been 
the guiding spirit in their history; under their domination 
it became the ruling factor in the empire. By conquest 
and inheritance they acquired large and powerful posses- 
sions and used these to preserve their predominance in 
Germany and to win back by degrees the hegemony of 
Italy. But their widening circle of influence was gained 
at the expense of the German states. They were always 
ready to embroil the Empire in Italy, or with France, for 
the sake of a scion of the House of Habsburg, and to 
retain their hold on the Netherlands they made endless 
sacrifices, while in 1736 Francis II., husband of Maria 
Theresa, even bartered Lorraine for Tuscany — a German 
for a non-German territory. 

In distinction, therefore, to the German empire 
founded by Otho the Great the empire of the Habsburgs 
was an Austrian one, and just as the conception of a great 
Teutonic European empire which inspired Charlemagne 
was narrowed under his successors to that of a German 
empire dominating Italy, so under the Habsburgs the 
German ideal was put on one side in favour of an Aus- 
trian one. This is shewn in the intense importance at- 
tached by the Habsburgs to those portions of the empire 
which were their hereditary possessions, and in their at- 
tempt to augment them, as we have already said, even 
at the expense of German territory. At the same time 
the rise of German, Slav, or Magyar nationalism was 



1519 AD 




.oneiiude "West from OreenwicTi 



The empire and hereditary Empire H 
Inheritance of Charles V Ayr\a sty: 




^pire and hereditary possesions of Charley V. Empire ^£l^e?enten\ S?StS 
Inheritance of CharlesV (Charles abdicated 1556). Bohemia -Hungary_are united unaei / 

^ Hovse of Hohenzollern == 



REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 17 

sternly opposed, and as time went on it became the ambi- 
tion of the Habsburgs to reduce the power of their nobles 
and build up round the Austrian nucleus a centralised 
empire. In a way they were entirely successful in this, 
since the Habsburgs, or Austrian house, are really the 
centre in every sense of the modern realm, but the resusci- 
tation of their claims on Italy and the intensely conflicting 
elements even in the very heart of their dominions proved 
a serious stumbling block, and in the long run the sup- 
pressed forces of national feeling have wrecked the hopes 
of a homogeneous empire. 

We are, however, somewhat anticipating the march of 
events. Another factor of supreme importance in mould- 
ing the fate of the empire has to be considered. In the 
succeeding chapters we shall see the peculiar conditions 
under which a large portion of Central Europe received 
Christianity. Moravia and part of Bohemia were con- 
verted by the Byzantine apostles, who brought them a 
Slav liturgy, and, although they no longer retain its 
forms, they have ancient traditions of independence of 
Rome. It is not wonderful that religious and national 
liberty soon became synonymous in countries which were 
struggling simultaneously against German and Catholic 
influence. At the same time the corruption in the church 
and state of confusion in the empire were producing a 
great effect on the minds of men who were hardly freed 
from the superstitions of the Dark Ages. The earliest sign 
of the Reformation was seen in the teachings of the Eng- 
lish Wycklyffe in the fourteenth and early fifteenth cen- 
turies, which found an echo in the far-off countries of Bo- 



18 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

hernia and Moravia, where John Huss and John of Prague 
and their followers, the Hussites, fought a long and bitter 
fight for national and religious freedom. The Thirty 
Years' War of the seventeenth century was a similar con- 
flict with a more extended arena and the Germans, in- 
stead of the Czechs, in conflict with the Emperor and the 
Pope. The awakening feeling of German nationalism was, 
in half the empire, driven into hostility against an insti- 
tution which seemed to bind them to Rome as the centre 
of a foreign tyranny. As early as 1338 the Germanic Diet 
at Rense solemnly protested against the pretensions of the 
Pope to supremacy, and a similar course was taken by the 
electors at Frankfort. In 1648 the Thirty Years' War 
came to an end, and the Peace of Westphalia laid the 
foundation of modern Europe and remains as a landmark 
in history and the basis of international law. 

The difference made in the position of the Emperors 
by this religious disruption of the empire needs to be 
thoroughly appreciated. The Habsburgs were Catholics, 
and, although by no means uniformly subservient to the 
Popes, the force of circumstances caused them to rely on 
the support of the Church. After ruthless but ineffectual 
attempts to stamp out the Reformed Religion, they were 
at length compelled to acknowledge it, and in 1608 the 
German princes were divided into a Catholic and a 
Protestant League, which led up to the Thirty Years' 
War. The predominant note in the period which follows 
the Peace of Westphalia is the rise of the Protestant 
Hohenzollerns, as compared with the waning power of 
the Catholic Habsburgs. In 1701 Frederick, the Protes- 




I he Holy Komarv ijmpire 
Domains _ of ..Austria: 



1G48 AD 




TlneHol 7 Roni Q ^E T 



ow e of H ata 1o-u.y g Collateral Lrancke^ of Hovse of HaoaL-u-rg/' ; 



-— --xjmpireirvJLXIL ^exvturv llll OttoiviQ.^ Empire E3 Hovae ' of Holiervzolierrv 
domains . of Anoint H 



REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 19 

tant elector of Brandenburg, was powerful enough to 
secure the title of King of Prussia. Forty years later 
Frederick the Great ascended the throne of Prussia and 
made it one of the first powers of Europe, and at the 
same time the House of Habsburg came to an end in the 
male line, but had been secured to Maria Theresa, daughter 
of Charles VI., by the diplomacy of that monarch. 

In speaking of the comparative decline of the Habs- 
burgs we must remember that at the zenith of their power 
their domains included, besides the archduchies of Austria 
and Styria, the Tyrol, the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, 
Milan, the Netherlands, Franche Comte, and Spain. Bo- 
hemia and Hungary were not included, although Maxi- 
milian chose to call himself king of them, as they were 
at this time united under the Jagellon dynasty. Such 
was the inheritance of Charles V., due to the work 
accomplished by his grandfather, Maximilian (1493- 
15 19), the most attractive and romantic figure in the 
whole family history of the Habsburgs; perhaps the only 
one, of a long line of emperors, who attracts by the large- 
ness of his qualities and chivalric and picturesque person- 
ality. After Maximilian's death his grandsons almost 
divided Europe between them, but his domain, like that 
of Charlemagne, soon split up again, and the really per- 
manent part of it was that which had its centre in the 
Austrian possessions, with claims over Bohemia and 
Hungary. 

When Maria Theresa (1740) succeeded her father on 
a very precarious throne, as King of Hungary and Bo- 
hemia, Archduchess of Austria, etc., she had to contend 



20 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

against other claimants of the House of Habsburg, who 
claimed prior rights, despite the fact of their resignation 
while Charles was alive and the confirmation of Maria's 
position which he had gained by obtaining the Pragmatic 
Sanction of all the Estates to her succession. A long strug- 
gle ended, largely by the reason of Hungarian loyalty to 
Maria, in her victory, and her husband, Francis of Lor- 
raine, was chosen Emperor. On his death her son Joseph 
succeeded him in the Imperial office, but for forty years 
Maria was the dominant force in the Empire as well as in 
her kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia. She followed the 
Habsburg policy of endeavouring to centralise her domains, 
and therefore repressed nationalism among Magyars and 
Czechs, and replaced it by a sense of dependence on a royal 
house and court. Her son Joseph, when he succeeded her, 
went a good deal further in this direction and at the same 
time attempted many internal reforms. He diverged 
from the traditional Habsburg policy, however, by his 
resolve to reduce clerical power, which was actually the 
occasion of a visit of remonstrance by the Pope to Vienna. 
The position of the Empire was now exceedingly anoma- 
lous. For a century past the Emperor had ceased to enjoy 
in Europe the paramount position indicated in his pre- 
tentious title. To one-half of the subjects of the Empire 
he was only the titular head of their political system, while 
to the other he was also the advocate and defender of 
their faith. Joseph desired that his people should be 
Catholics, not Romanists; but a large proportion were 
neither. Moreover, the growth, during the eighteenth 
century, of the spirit of rationalism and scepticism, espe- 




H R Empire fill Hovse 

Hovse 




H P. Empire 



Hovse of Habsburg __CcQlateral Rovses \< 
Hov.se of Hohenz-olLern = TVrki.sk Empire 



REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 21 

dally in France, led to a loosening of the hold of all 
traditional conceptions over men's minds, and while the 
jurists of the seventeenth century had already condemned 
the cumbrous and obsolete machinery of the Empire the 
wits of the eighteenth made it their laughing stock. Fred- 
erick of Prussia spoke of the Diet at Frankfort as " dogs 
baying the moon," and although the personality of Maria 
Theresa and the skilful diplomacy of her ministers, es- 
pecially of Kaunitz (who also served Joseph till his death) 
were enough to secure the prestige of the House of Austria, 
the Holy Roman Empire was already doomed. 

The French Revolution, in which the daughter of Maria 
Theresa perished on the guillotine, was the first breaking 
of a wave which spread over Europe. Napoleon, rising 
on its crest, replaced the old tyranny by a new one, and 
dreamed for a brief moment of a new Empire as widely 
European as that of Charlemagne. Twice he entered the 
city of Vienna as conquerer, and a daughter of the proudest 
Imperial house of Europe was given him as a wife, to 
soften his attitude towards Austria. In 1804 Francis 
II., alarmed at the extent to which Napoleon was replac- 
ing the political divisions of Europe with new ones of 
his own devising, and fearing to find himself reduced to 
the status of a mere German monarch, determined to 
secure his own Imperial claims on a more solid foundation 
than that of the shadowy electoral Holy Roman Empire 
by assuming the title of hereditary Emperor of Austria, 
and two years later he resigned his more showy titles. 
There is no doubt that Napoleon hoped to emulate Char- 
lemagne in reestablishing a great European empire on the 



22 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Roman model, and as we have seen he went so far as to 
have his son called King of Rome, after the title worn by so 
many heirs to the Empire. In abdicating a title which was 
an empty one to him Francis strengthened his own position 
by inventing and conferring on himself the more tangible 
and realistic title of Emperor of Austria. Austria was, and 
still is, more or less a facon de parler, since there is no 
imperial state which actually bears that name, no people 
who are distinctively " Austrian " in race. But, as applied 
to certain of the states which have become attached to 
the House of Habsburg, either by conquest, inheritance 
or annexation, the term " Austrian empire," as synony- 
mous with " empire of the Habsburgs," is more con- 
venient and accurate than the ancient and obsolete title 
which Francis abdicated. Hungary's position needs to be 
denned later, but it may be said in passing that this king- 
dom and its dependencies also form an integral part of 
the Habsburg hereditary dominions, though on a different 
footing to the other states. 

The Napoleonic crisis, 3 therefore, served to strengthen 
the dynastic empire of the Habsburgs, and, as we shall 
see, another great revolutionary period — that beginning 
in 1848 which lasted until Italy finally became free — in 
reality served the same purpose. The greatest bane of the 
Habsburgs, as of some of their predecessors on the Im- 
perial throne, was always the attempt to enforce their 
claims on non-contiguous territory. The modern Austro- 
Hungarian realm is fairly contiguous and compact, and its 
problems are now not so much external as internal. 

3 For continuation of historical sketch see Chapter V. 




Holy Roman Empire II || 



WITT* CerAury 
1769 




l.i'ngliu.lo \V,.( rroiu Drr.-n 



Holy Roman Empire II II Austrian Hovse of Habsbur- Collateral branches of Hovse 

H ov.se of Hohervzollerri ^ Hovse of Savoy WW 



CHAPTER II 

THE COMING OF SLAV AND MAGYAR 

,We are all aware that the subjects of the Emperor Fran- 
cis Joseph are very various in race. For practical pur- 
poses it is not necessary here to go fully into the divisions, 
and still less into the many subdivisions, but a clear un- 
derstanding must be had of the main stocks from which 
these people come. Roughly, they may be divided into 
the Germans, the Slavs, and the Magyars. There is also 
a population using a Latin tongue and claiming descent 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 



Germars 

5Iav.s 

Roumanians 

'Others' 




HUNGARY 
Jotal 



Magyars 

^Iav 

Jsmxmanians 

Germans 

* Others' 




Geanso3s\& 

Italians 
Rotrtnanians 
MaoyarsV 

RACES IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 

from the Romans who were masters of a great part of 
what is now Austria-Hungary, which they conquered from 
Germanic tribes. In eastern Europe they found one of 
their most formidable opponents in the Dacians, who 
were only conquered after several wars by Trajan. Tran- 
sylvania, as well as the basin of the Danube to its mouth, 

23 



24 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

was included in the ancient Dacian kingdom, and modern 
Roumania claims to have its origin in this remote period 
of history. Whether or no the Dacians were themselves 
of Slav origin, it seems more than probable that in eastern 
and central Europe the Romans encountered ancient Slav 
tribes who were incorporated in the empire. The modern 
Roumanians are the historical descendants of this early 
Latin conquest, and their language is a Latin tongue 
similar to the Catalan, and even more to Ladinian or the 
Romansch of the Grisons in Switzerland. People of Rou- 
manian origin and tongue are found throughout Hungary 
and in the Austrian coast provinces, but they are most 
numerous in Transylvania. Buda and Vienna both are on 
the sites of fortified cities which were seats of Roman 
government. 

In the fourth century came Attila and his Huns, who 
swept across Europe, and when Attila was gone the Ger- 
manic tribes began their migrations, constantly obliter- 
ating the Roman frontiers and sweeping down into Italy. 
On their footsteps, and even beyond them, came another 
race of more peaceful conquerors — the Slavs. Who and 
what these people were, and when they made their first 
appearance in Europe, are still matters for conjecture. 
The Slavs are identified by some authorities with the an- 
cient Scythians. Many ideas, expressions, and character- 
istics of these people recorded by ancient writers are 
similar to those of the Slavs. It is certain that in very 
ancient times they spread over a great part of western 
Europe, and it is considered probable that they formed 
the bulk of the population in the Balkan peninsula and 



SLAV AND MAGYAR 25 

Greece before the rise of the latter country as a civilised 
power. The theory that eastern Europe was at a very 
early date occupied by a Slavonic people rests chiefly on 
the evidences of an ancient Slavonic language which are 
to be found, sometimes overlaid with a more recent dialect 
and sometimes in a singularly pure form, in regions which 
have not, so far as history shews, been colonised by Slavs. 
The Slavonic languages are rich and full, and of very 
ancient origin, approximating most nearly, as does the 
Lithuanian, to Sanscrit, and thus demonstrating clearly 
an Indo-European origin. In Roman times the country of 
the Slavs known as Sarmatia (corresponding with modern 
Russia, Poland, and Galicia) was a sort of borderland 
shading off into the unknown. From this land came tribes 
of Slavic colonists, known by different names, and settled, 
sometimes peacefully, sometimes by conquest, in different 
countries. They occupied Bohemia in the fifth century, 
Moravia a little later, and in Wallachia and Moldavia 
they met and mingled with the Romanised Dacians. In 
the Danubian territories they found the Avars, a kindred 
tribe to the Huns, against whom they had to defend them- 
selves. Some of the Slav tribes paid tribute to the 
Avars, and submitted to be transplanted in colonies from 
one district to another, by which process they were trans- 
ferred to Carinthia and neighbouring territory. The ac- 
tual extent of the country originally populated by Slavs 
is somewhat difficult to determine. The seventh century 
saw a sort of Slav union under a leader, Samo, who 
appears, however, to have been of Frankish origin. He 
actually defeated King Dagobert of the Franks in a big 



26 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

battle. The Byzantine emperor, Heraclius, unconsciously 
laid the foundations of Servia by inviting the Sorabes 
(originally from what is now known as Prussia) to come 
down from the Danube and inhabit Upper Moesia, 
Lower Dacia, and Dardania, so as to form a bulwark 
against the Avars. This brought them to the Adriatic 
coast, while the remaining Roman element took refuge 
in Ragusa and other coast towns, where, under Italian 
influence, they preserved their Latin characteristics, so 
that to this day there is a literary and political feud be- 
tween the Latins and Slavs. In the early Middle Ages 
Ragusa became the centre of a real Slavonic civilisation, 
and her schools and universities were celebrated, while 
she was the home of men of poetry and science at a 
time when central Europe was still in the darkness of 
barbarism. 

These Slav peoples, the almost peaceful successors to 
those lands left vacant by the Germanic tribes, became 
the dominant race in Eastern Europe, thrusting west 
towards the Latinised Franks, north to the Baltic, and 
south to the Adriatic and iEgean, but were not all known 
as Slavs. That name was given only to the northern tribes, 
while those living near the Carpathians were known as 
Sorabes, by which name they are familiar in German his- 
tory, and are still found as Sorbs in Prussian Lusatia and 
Saxony, as well as in far distant European Turkey. The 
Germans also called them Wends, Vends, or Veneti, and 
the name " Windisch " affixed to the names of places re- 
calls a Slav origin. The greatest of Slav-founded cities 
is said by some authorities to have been Venice, whose 




SLAV PEOPLE FROM THE CICERIA (NEAR TRIESTE) 



SLAV AND MAGYAR 27 

name certainly seems to bear witness to its origin, as also 
do many words in common use and some of the distinctive 
features of its early history. 

As a race the Slavs were characterised by a peaceful 
disposition, compared with that of the tribes with which 
they had to contend; but this reputation they owed proba- 
bly more to their agricultural pursuits, in distinction to 
the pastoral habits of the Huns, Avars, or Germans, than 
to any special mildness of disposition. 

The question of the political organisation and tend- 
encies of the Slavs opens up a very interesting field, since 
there is no doubt that in such matters they were, and still 
are, widely differentiated from the Teutonic peoples, 
whose civilisation may be described as Western. From the 
earliest times of which we have any record the Slavs have 
practised those principles of democracy, and especially of 
communism, which it has been the dream of many modern 
reformers to introduce into western civilisation. The com- 
munity of kith and kin was, and still is, the foundation 
of their social system, but it has expanded, as we see in 
modern Russia or Servia to-day, to include groups of in- 
dustrialists or agriculturists. In the years which saw the 
fiercest Ottoman invasions of Europe colonies of Slavs 
were placed on the frontiers of the empire, who were, like 
the Cossacks, organised on a military basis, holding the 
land free on condition of service. They exhibited, until 
quite recent times, the most extreme form of communism 
to be found in Europe, living in one large house divided 
into sections and holding property absolutely in common. 
The earliest writers who mention the Slavs comment on 



28 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

their democratic form of government and love of liberty, 
and in their history we can trace the actual effect of these 
traits on their destiny. Despite their peaceful and yet 
virile character, their love of liberty, their ancient civilisa- 
tion, and many noble qualities, one after another of the 
Slav peoples became enslaved. The Mongol invasion 
kept Russia the vassal of the Great Horde for centuries, 
and when at last she threw off the yoke she undoubtedly 
owed much to the infusion of Mongol blood as well as 
to the influence of her Variag invaders. Bulgaria (a 
Slavicised Mongol power, ruling a people who were a 
mixture of Latin and Slav) was the first, and possibly the 
greatest, Slav power for many centuries, and its rulers re- 
ceived from Byzantium the title of Tsar two centuries 
before it was adopted in Russia. Bulgaria spread over the 
whole Balkan peninsula save the extreme south, and in 
her golden age (the tenth and eleventh centuries) was one 
of the great European powers. Yet she fell under Byzan- 
tine domination, and was ruled by Greek satraps for 170 
years. A brief revival in the twelfth century was followed 
by conquest by Servia. Servia was a purely Slav country 
which reached the zenith of its power in the thirteenth 
and fourteenth centuries, when it comprised not only 
modern Servia but a great part of modern Austria-Hun- 
gary — Croatia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia — as well 
as Montenegro and the provinces of European Turkey. 
Bulgaria and Servia were both in turn the allies or the 
enemies of the Eastern Empire, but when Constantinople 
fell the tide of Ottoman invasion swept over them. Servia 
lost the whole of her aristocracy and from the fourteenth 



SLAV AND MAGYAR 29 

to the nineteenth centuries all these Slav countries were 
enslaved by the Turks with the exception of Montenegro 
and the republic of Ragusa. 

Another ancient Slav kingdom was Moravia, which in 
the ninth century was the sovereign Slav power of a ter- 
ritory reaching from what is now Prussia to the Adriatic, 
but fell to a neighbouring Slav state, that of the Czechs, 
known as Bohemia. The story of Bohemia must be told 
elsewhere. It is enough for our present purpose that she 
became a great and powerful state, but lost her native 
dynasty, and under the influence of the House of Habs- 
burg came near losing her language and nationality. In 
fact, not one of the great Slav countries, save Russia, pre- 
served its national independence, and, with the exceptions 
mentioned, all were living under foreign rule and domina- 
tion until, in the early years of the nineteenth century, the 
Slav peoples of the Balkans at last threw off the Turkish 
yoke. Since then a wonderful movement of Slav renas- 
cence has taken place; ancient literatures have been re- 
discovered and records ransacked for the early history 
of the Slavonic races. But no amount of glorious tradi- 
tion can alter the fact which modern, as well as ancient, 
Slav history makes evident, that the democratic and com- 
munistic theory of government does not necessarily lead to 
efficiency or cohesion in the state. The Slav point of view 
is essentially parochial and his socialism is opposed to that 
of Western Europe in being, actually, entirely individual- 
istic, despite his communism, which from the limited na- 
ture of its operations is in fact only a slightly expanded 
individualism. This point of view is illustrated by the care 



30 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

with which the Slavs protected the rights of minorities, 
for they did not, and to this day do not, realise the prin- 
ciples of representative government by a majority in 
which the good of the greatest number is the main ideal. 
The Slav, in fact, is the natural democrat, and as such 
was quite unable to contend with peoples organised on a 
more practical basis. His one chance came when he was 
ruled by an autocrat, a man strong enough to command 
at once fear and respect, and so the story of the Slav 
peoples is the story of their leaders. When a strong man 
appeared his particular branch of the race became power- 
ful; at his death (or before it, if he attempted to rule the 
people with their own consent or through councils) his 
realm was torn by dissensions, and usually, for the sake 
of peace, offered to a foreign prince strong enough to 
hold it. There have been Slav dynasties like that of the 
Premyslides in Bohemia, which had its origin in legend 
And came to an end in 1306, and the great Tartar-Slav 
empire of Russia has held its own because a race of despots 
was raised up to rule it. But no constitutional monarch 
would have commanded from a Slav people the adoration 
mingled with fear which the Russian moujik has poured 
out on his Tsar. It may be that a fresh era of Slav history 
is about to dawn, but the main difficulty lies with the people 
themselves. 

It has become usual, since the Slav renascence of the 
last century, to endeavour to trace a great deal of Euro- 
pean civilisation back to early Slavonic influences. But 
although Europe undoubtedly owes to these much gifted 
people, it is not possible to discount the fact that Latin 



SLAV AND MAGYAR 31 

influence was the main factor in shaping the history of 
western Europe and that the Romans, although they may 
have come in contact with that ancient Slavonic element 
of which we have spoken, were a strongly individual race 
whose marked characteristics have left traces on all the 
lands they ruled which time cannot obliterate. A very 
interesting theory, however, is the presumed Slavonic ori- 
gin of at least two Roman emperors, Diocletian, who was 
born at Spalato, and is said to have taken his Latin name 
from Ducla, the Slav name of that place, and Justinian, 
whose Latin name is regarded as a literal translation of 
his own patronymic, the Slav " Pravda," meaning " truth." 
Slav influence on the Eastern empire is far less obscure, 
belonging to more recent times and continuing to the latest 
days of Byzantium. 

There is evidence in ancient writers that the Sarmatians 
— by which name the Romans knew all the Slavonic tribes 
beyond the empire — were by no means savages. When 
their incursions into the empire began in the fifth century 
they understood the use of weapons and even of fortifica- 
tions, and were passionately fond of music, besides being 
adepts in the art of agriculture and in certain primitive 
industries. They were, of course, pagans, and their reli- 
gion seems to have been of a nature-worshipping character, 
as might be expected from their pursuits. Their conversion 
to Christianity was a matter of some time, as they dis- 
trusted especially the German sources from which enlight- 
enment might have come, but in the Danubian provinces 
they met both Byzantine and Latin Christians — a circum- 
stance which laid the foundation for religious dissensions 



32 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

in times to come. The more northern Slavs, whose coun- 
try of Moravia had become the centre of a great power, 
at length invited missionaries from Byzantium, and in the 
ninth century two brothers, Cyril and Methodius, came to 
Moravia, carrying with them not only the Christian doc- 
trine but a new version of the Scriptures and a liturgy 
written in a character composed from Slavonic mingled 
with Greek. These " apostles of the Slavs " met with 
great success in Moravia and Slavonia, as they had 
already done in Lithuania, but the jealousy of the Latin 
communion was aroused, and, although they went to Rome 
to vindicate their orthodoxy, and although their version of 
the Scripture and liturgy was fully recognised by the Latin 
church, their followers were not able to stand against the 
opposition of the German prelates and priests. The Slav 
liturgy passed through Croatia, Servia and Bulgaria into 
Russia, but was finally lost after a prolonged struggle. 
One result of the opposition to this new Slavonic form was 
the preservation of an older one, called " Glagolitza," 
which still continues to be recognised by the Catholic 
church in Servia and Croatia. 1 The Cyrillic character 
survived, however, and is now in use in modified forms in 
Russia and the Balkan states. 

When the schism between the Eastern and Western 
churches was complete, the Slavs, who stretched in a belt 
across from the Adriatic to the Bosphorus, were naturally 
torn by religious dissensions. Of the southern Slavs, the 
Slovenes were more easily Latinised than the Croats, who 
offered for a long time a sturdy resistance to any dena- 
tionalising influence, while Bulgaria and Servia, both 

1 See also Chapter XIII. 



SLAV AND MAGYAR 33 

Christianised from the East, were each in turn anx- 
ious to establish a national and independent church. No 
section of the Slav race can be said to have been dis- 
tinguished for orthodoxy and devotion to any pre- 
scribed church until Russia became orthodox, at the strict 
command of its rulers. 

The chief significance of the religious development of 
the Slavs from the point of view of this sketch is the 
extent to which it became identified with their national 
aspirations. It is not surprising to find that so democratic 
a people would not submit easily to a tyranny in matters 
temporal and spiritual alike by a power which was upheld 
more by tradition and superstition than by the personal 
force behind it. In this respect the Slavs differed utterly 
from the Germanic, Gallic, and Latin races to whom the 
name of Rome represented a power which in time they 
came to regard as sacred. When the temporal Empire 
fell the spiritual one succeeded it, until, in 800 A. D., the 
revival of the Imperial title in the person of the Frankish 
king, Charlemagne, started a new current of sentiment 
and divided men's allegiance, instead of centring it still 
more firmly on Rome, as the Pope had hoped. The Sla- 
vonic part of the population always resisted this domi- 
nation, whether by Pope or Emperor, and thus we find the 
seeds of the Reformation, sown in England by Wycklyffe, 
taking root in Bohemia, whence they were never eradi- 
cated, and leading to a national struggle with German 
influences. Even the German reformation was looked at 
with great distrust by the Bohemian Protestants, who were 
more in sympathy with Calvin than with Luther. The 



34 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

unhappy subjection of so large a portion of the Slavs 
by the Turks kept them from the influences of the Ref- 
ormation period; hence the Servians, the Bulgarians, and 
the Roumanians belong to either the Greek or the Latin 
communion. It is interesting to note that the members 
of a religious sect of Asiatic origin known as the Bogo- 
miles, whose doctrines had spread through the Balkans 
and even through southern Europe to France, being 
obliged after the Turkish invasions of the twelfth and 
thirteenth centuries to live under Turkish rule, embraced 
Mohammedanism rather than become Roman Catholics, 
as, indeed, did many Serbo-Croatian families. 

The second race (historically) whose history we must 
now briefly trace, arrived upon the European stage in the 
fourth century, when the Magyars penetrated to the 
heart of the Slav country. They were of similar origin to 
the Bulgars, Huns, and Avars, belonging to the same race 
as the Turks and the Finns. Their orignal habitat is said 
to have been the Ural-Altai region between Europe and 
Asia, and they seem to have been in many respects similar 
to other races of horsemen and nomads who from time to 
time swept across the great Asiatic plain through the low 
Ural hills and on through the heart of Russia into Europe. 
The strange fate which left one colony of these people on 
the Baltic to become enslaved for a time — a brief time — 
by a Slav empire, took another down through a pass 
in the Carpathians to settle on the fertile plains which 
those mountains partially screen. This migration has the 
appearance of a deliberate move, although the story that 
it was accomplished in full marching order is probably 



SLAV AND MAGYAR 35 

apocryphal. It is now asserted that these conquering 
bands were accompanied by Slav serfs who fought for 
their masters, and afterwards cultivated the soil for them. 
It is said that a million souls passed over in this way, but 
it is certain that they must have come in several batches 
spread over a considerable period. The first descent had 
been made upon (modern) Eastern Roumania but, being 
defeated there by the Bulgarian Czar, they apparently 
decided to put the Carpathians between themselves and a 
foe of such warlike propensities. They then drove a 
wedge through the Slav peoples, dividing the Czechs 
from the Slovenes and Serbo-Croatians, and hastening the 
subjugation of the latter under Latin and German in- 
fluences. 

The Magyars, like all Asiatic nomad tribes, were dis- 
tinguished for ferocity and virility, and the tales of their 
savage appearance and behaviour struck terror to the 
hearts of milder races. They had the dash and spirit of a 
people trained on horseback, affording a contrast to the 
imaginative and dreamy Slav, just as their nomadic and 
pastoral habits were different from his agricultural ones. 
Intermarriage has very much modified the Magyars and, 
although it is possible to find among them survivals of, or 
reversions to, a type which is characteristically Turkish 
(with the straight black hair, high cheek bone and slant- 
ing eye), yet the constant infusion of Slav, German, and 
Latin blood has made the Magyar race as a whole almost 
as nondescript as is the British. Every type can be found 
in Hungary, from the golden-haired Slav or flaxen German 
to the dark Italian, the swarthy Armenian, gipsy, or Jew. 



36 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

It is hard to differentiate the true Magyar type, especially 
as the families whose descent is clearest have often inter- 
married with foreigners. In character the Magyar has 
retained certain traits of which we must speak later. 

The Magyar idea of government was diametrically 
opposed to that of the Slavs, having its centre in the idea 
of a military leader. The early custom of giving free- 
hold rights to families or tribes (and of inviting these 
from outside if necessary) on the basis of military service, 
was the origin in Hungary of that small landed nobility 
which has always been the backbone of the country. One 
is reminded of the very similar conditions in a region 
which, however, for various reasons is less homogeneous. 
In Mongolia each village has a prince or two, all landed 
nobility and members of a sort of military caste. The 
intensely aristocratic basis of society in Hungary is in 
striking contrast with that of the surrounding Slav coun- 
tries, and yet, by what is on the surface a paradox, Hun- 
gary was preserved by it from the extremes of the feudal 
system. The Middle Ages saw the reduction, under this 
system, of every non-noble man to the condition of a serf, 
chained to the land and the chattel of his lord, while 
universal military service was replaced by professional 
paid soldiers who were maintained by the feudal lords, 
but in Hungary the large class of small and yet noble free- 
holders, all of whose descendants were equally free and 
noble, and the retention of a military system among the 
people mitigated the extreme division of society and other 
abuses which became so terrible a feature in other Euro- 
pean countries. 





















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SLAV AND MAGYAR 37 

Although modified in appearance, in customs, and in 
character by the people they have assimilated, the Mag- 
yars have retained, throughout all vicissitudes, an extraor- 
dinary homogeneity. Hungary has been a sovereign na- 
tion and a kingdom since iooo A. D., and has never owned 
allegiance to any monarch who has not been affirmed 
and crowned by her Estates. Moreover, the Hungarian 
is the only complete nation under the Austrian crown. 
Even Bohemia, claiming similar historic rights, does not 
occupy the same position. Her people are not intact; 
Czechs are living under Prussian rule, and Czech territory 
has been reduced by the conquest of neighbouring states. 
Moreover, there is within Bohemia a second nation, the 
Germans, with equal rights to the Czechs. Their position 
is therefore constitutionally different from that of Hun- 
gary as a free sovereign state and nation. The rest of 
the peoples under Austrian rule are detached fragments 
of nations, remnants of ancient states. Their ties are, in 
many cases, with the modern states surrounding them 
rather than with the power which holds them together. 
That it does hold them — that the House of Habsburg is 
the connecting link for this heterogeneous collection of 
states and peoples — is one of the most interesting phe- 
nomena in modern history. Other empires have been built 
up by a similar process of accretion round a reigning 
house — modern France, for example — but whereas the 
lands annexed to France became French, both formally 
and practically, the accretions to the Habsburg realm have 
retained their racial and political idiosyncrasies in the 
teeth of the most adverse circumstances. 



CHAPTER III 

THE STORY OF HUNGARY 

Hungary became a kingdom in iooo A. D., and a con- 
stitutional monarchy in 1222, and its history since that 
date has been the eventful record of an entire if small 
nation; of its developments, constitutional and political; 
and of its relation to half a dozen States by which it 
was surrounded and to the great Imperial power which 
overshadowed them. In every phase this kingdom has 
preserved its independence and national idiosyncrasies, 
and cannot be confused or grouped with any other State. 
It is evident, therefore, that it is no easy task to compress 
its history within a few pages., It is necessary to confine 
ourselves to an outline of the historical development of 
the Magyars, especially as regards their relations to the 
House of Habsburg. 

In 1000 A. D., as we have already seen, Hungary be- 
came an independent kingdom by the solemn sanction of the 
Pope, for which reason the King of Hungary is still 
known as his Apostolic Majesty. As the Hungarians were 
by no means all converted — indeed a pagan rising took 
place in the eleventh century — it is difficult to see why 
(although the King, Stephen I., was a good Catholic) the 
Pope should appear in the erection of the kingdom. In the 
opinion of the age, however, the head of the Roman 
Empire was the only power who could make kings, and 

38 



THE STORY OF HUNGARY 39 

this period was one in which the Papal See, under a string 
of profligate and ambitious Popes, was exerting itself 
(somewhat unsuccessfully) against the last of the Fran- 
conian emperors. The Hungarians were a thorn in the 
side of the Empire, and had been disastrously defeated 
by Otho the Great in 955, so that their appeal for recog- 
nition was made to the Pope of the day rather than to 
the Emperor. The confusion which reigned throughout 
the empire after the end of the Saxonian line found its 
reflection in Hungary, although that country was not an 
Imperial State. In the second half of the eleventh century 
it was under the domination of the Emperor Henry IV. 
and was a bone of contention between him and his cele- 
brated adversary, the militant Pope Gregory VII. In 
1077 Ladislas became king and succeeded in making him- 
self independent and uniting Croatia with his own coun- 
try, and in the reign of his successor Dalmatia was also 
added. Croatia remained henceforth as an appanage of 
Hungary, although retaining her autonomous form of 
government. An important event in the twelfth century 
was the arrival of a colony of Saxons who were settled 
at the foot of the Carpathians in Transylvania. They 
founded many towns, and enjoyed complete autonomy on 
the condition of paying taxes, furnishing troops, and recog- 
nising the supreme authority of the King in judicial mat- 
ters. These colonists had an important influence on the 
development of Hungary, but neither they nor the Slavs 
within the kingdom, nor those incorporated with it in 
Croatia, were strong enough to disintegrate the Magyars. 
The twelfth and thirteenth centuries found Hungary a 



4 o THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

great buffer State between east and west. By a war with 
Russia she had established claims over part of Galicia, 
while on the south her contest with the Venetians had 
led to the loss of part of the Adriatic coast. Her famous 
king, Andrew II., issued a Golden Bull in 1222 which is 
regarded as the Magna Charta of Hungary. This was 
directed partly against the abuses and disorders which 
were the result of the growing power of the Church in 
Hungary, but it also defines the constitutional position of 
the Hungarian monarchy, which was to be hereditary in 
the House of Arpad, although the Magyars never acknowl- 
edged any King whose claims were not sanctioned by the 
Estates, practically the nobility. The most notable clause 
of the Golden Bull was, however, the last, in which the 
right of the subject to resist his sovereign in certain contin- 
gencies is upheld. So long ago were the doctrines of Rous- 
seau anticipated! The call to arms in Hungary was the 
sending round of a bloody sword, and the people pos- 
sessed what was called the right of resistance, without in- 
curring the accusation of high treason. In the time of 
Matthias Corvinus the levy was fixed at one man in every 
twenty, but practically all were liable, in one form or 
another, for military service. The name " hussar " is 
derived from this custom, " hus " meaning twenty. The 
thirteenth century also saw a feud with the House of 
Austria (not the Habsburgs, however, for they had not 
yet seized the duchy) , which captured some Hungarian 
provinces, but was compelled to restore them. In the 
wars with Bohemia, which ended finally in the overthrow 
of tKe native dynasty of that country, the Hungarians 



THE STORY OF HUNGARY 41 

fought with Austria. At first Bohemia was the victor 
and the Imperial crown was offered to her king, Ottocar 
II., but was refused. The confusion in the empire led 
at last to the election of Rudolf of Habsburg as Emperor, 
and as Bohemia refused to recognise him or to do homage 
a combination of her enemies was formed to overthrow 
her, in which Hungary was included. The death of the 
grandson of Ottocar in the first year of the fourteenth 
century almost coincided with that of the last of the 
Arpads, the ancient native dynasty of Hungary, and thus 
both kingdoms were obliged to seek a fresh monarch. 

Pope Boniface VIII., claiming the right because Stephen 
I. did homage to the Holy See, in 1308 placed Carl Robert 
of Anjou, nephew of the King of Naples, on the throne 
of Hungary. Simultaneously the Emperor gave Bohemia 
to his son; but, just as Bohemia refused to accept this 
nomination and turned to the House of Luxembourg, 
so Hungary resisted Carl Robert, although he was a 
descendant of Stephen V. through his mother. Wences- 
laus of Poland and Otis of Bavaria were crowned in turns, 
but at length the House of Anjou succeeded in 13 10, and 
in 1370 Louis, son of Carl Robert, also became King of 
Poland. In his reign Hungary became great and power- 
ful, and was the champion of Christendom against the 
Turks, the first battle between Magyars and Osmanlis 
taking place about 1366 on the Danube near the Iron 
Gates. Louis was also the first Hungarian king to set 
foot in Italy, where he made a successful expedition, and 
he annexed Dalmatia and defeated the southern Slavs of 
Servia and Bosnia. He had no son. His daughter Maria 



42 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

succeeded him conjointly with her husband Sigismund, but 
the latter was not only beaten in battle by the Turks but 
driven into flight by his own subjects, who tried to set 
up his wife's brother-in-law, Wladyslas of Poland. Sigis- 
mund, however, retained his crown, became Emperor in 
141 1, and King of Bohemia as well as Hungary in 1419. 
His death without an heir led once more to wars of suc- 
cession, which continued round the cradle of his post- 
humous son, although Albert of Austria, who succeeded 
him as Emperor and King of Bohemia, claimed the 
Hungarian throne also, by virtue of his wife's rights, as 
daughter to Sigismund, and by a treaty of succession 
with that monarch. When the posthumous son died, a 
native King once more sat on the throne in the person of 
Matthias Corvinus, son of John Hunyady, who had been 
appointed governor while the infant king remained in the 
hands of the Emperor. The latter vainly opposed the 
choice of Matthias, for he was a strong king and like his 
father a great warrior, not only defeating Turks and 
Bohemians, but marching against the Emperor, Frederick 
of Austria, and actually seizing Vienna in 1485. At his 
death the usual predicament occurred, for he left no legiti- 
mate son, and finally the crown was offered to Wlady- 
slaw of Poland, who had already accepted that of Bo- 
hemia ( 1490) . In this reign occurred the terrible peasant 
insurrection of the Kurucs, which was the ineffectual pro- 
test of the serfs against the noble class who monopolised 
all privileges and treated them as slaves. 

The son of Wladyslaw was Louis, who fell on the field 
of Mohacs fighting against the Turks, and with him fell 



THE STORY OF HUNGARY 43 

the flower of the Magyar warriors. Ferdinand of Aus- 
tria (brother to the Emperor Charles V. and co-heir 
with him to the vast empire of their grandfather Maxi- 
milian) claimed both Hungary and Bohemia, as the 
brother-in-law of Louis. We shall see later how he was 
accepted in Bohemia. In Hungary a large number of the 
nobles supported him, as they hoped to find protection 
against the Turks, but another party chose and proclaimed 
as king John Zapolya (Slavonic by origin, born at 
Zapolya on the Serbo-Bosnian frontier) , and round these 
rival claims raged a contest which divided the country for 
years. John made an alliance with the Turks, the former 
foes of his country, and acknowledged the suzerainty of 
the Ottoman Sultan in order to protect himself. Sultan 
Soliman marched to the gates of Vienna and proved to 
the unfortunate Hungarians almost as terrible as a friend 
as if he were a foe. At John's death his infant son was the 
centre of fresh intrigues and was taken under Turkish 
" protection," by which means he was deprived of all his 
territory save Transylvania, where he was given the title 
of prince. Hungary was divided into three between 
Zapolya, the Turks, and Austrians, but after a long 
struggle the last recognised the claims of the two first for 
a time. The death of young Zapolya without children led 
to fresh confusion. Transylvania was invaded by the 
Austrians and the severities practised there led to a gen- 
eral revolt in which the Magyars of Upper Hungary 
joined. Once more a national king was proclaimed, and 
appealed for protection to Turkey, but in 1606 the throne 
was again vacant, and by this time the intrigues which 



44 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

finally superseded the Emperor Rudolf were well ad- 
vanced, and Matthias, his brother (afterwards his suc- 
cessor) tried to ingratiate himself with the Magyars by 
returning them their ancient crown, and promising to 
respect their rights and privileges. When Ferdinand II. 
became emperor in 1619, he inherited the crowns of Bo- 
hemia and Hungary by the will of his uncle Matthias, 
and he at once endeavoured to conciliate the voievode of 
Transylvania, Bethlen Gabor, who from his wise and en- 
lightened rule had become a great influence. The religious 
intolerance of Ferdinand, which soon became apparent in 
his ruthless persecutions of the Bohemian Protestants, led 
Bethlen to declare against him and to join in the final 
struggle made by Bohemia to regain her independence. 
Some of the nobles of Hungary elected Bethlen as their 
king at the same time that the Czechs chose the Elector 
Palatine, and at the fateful battle of the White Moun- 
tain, when Bohemian liberty was lost, Bethlen was so 
reduced that he was obliged to come to terms with Ferdi- 
nand by renouncing his claim to Hungary and keeping 
only his original princedom of Transylvania, with certain 
other towns and duchies. At his death, in 1629, he was 
succeeded by the famous George Rakoczy, who en- 
deavoured to strengthen his position by negotiations with 
France — the hereditary enemy of the Habsburgs — and 
Sweden, the champion of the Protestants. As a conse- 
quence he drew upon himself the attention of the Porte. 
His territories were invaded and he himself killed, and 
a similar fate overtook his successor (who had made alii- 



THE STORY OF HUNGARY 45 

ance with the Emperor) after which Transylvania had to 
accept the nominee of the Ottomans, Michael Apafy. 

The Magyars continued to alternate between struggles 
for national and religious liberty with Austria and even 
more desperate struggles with the Turks. The presence 
of this terrible foe eventually united them with the Im- 
perial forces, and at the battle of St. Gothard, or 
Kormend, the Magyars had the honour of sharing in 
a victory which was the turning point of the Ottoman 
invasion of central Europe. The Turks, however, re- 
tained their Hungarian provinces and took several for- 
tresses. The yoke of Austria proved even heavier than 
that of the Turk, and in the reign of Leopold I. (1657- 
1705) an insurrection broke out, headed by Emerich 
Tokoly, in which the Turks were again sought as allies 
against the Austrians. The effort proved abortive and 
Leopold exacted a terrible vengeance and enacted that 
the ancient right of election to the monarchy should be 
entirely abolished, and the crown made hereditary in his 
own family. The diets, both of Hungary and Bohemia, 
were terrorised into assent, and having secured, as he 
thought, their allegiance, the Emperor recommended the 
Imperial wars against the Turks which gradually rolled 
them back. The Servians, who were enthralled by 
Turkey, aided in these wars, and colonies of them were 
invited to Austrian domains and to Hungary, settling 
even near Buda. 

Transylvania was then added to the Austrian crown, and 
Prince Michael Apafy sent to Vienna, but smouldering 



46 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

discontent again flamed into insurrection, which was 
headed by Francis Rakoczy and spread to Hungary. As 
this synchronised with the war of the Spanish Succession, 
the Emperor had his hands full, and France sympathised 
with Rakoczy, while the Bavarians, as allies of the French, 
attacked Austria. 

In 1707 the diet of Hungary, held at Onod, deposed 
Joseph I. from being King of Hungary, but although 
Rakoczy was virtually the ruler of the country, they did 
not offer him the crown, and, with the traditional policy 
of obtaining outside help, offered it to the Elector of 
Bavaria, who, however, declined it. The delay gave 
time for the war of the Spanish Succession to come to 
an end, and the Imperial forces succeeded in putting 
down the insurrection. Rakoczy fled to Paris, where 
he is a familiar and picturesque figure in the memoirs of 
the time. The Hungarian diet agreed, in 171 1, to a treaty 
which, while acknowledging Joseph I. as king, granted 
an amnesty and restored the ancient rights of Hungary, 
with the exception of the " right of resistance." In the 
next reign Charles VI. acknowledged the elective rights 
of the Magyars, although he afterward secured the suc- 
cession of his house in the person of his daughter by the 
Pragmatic Sanction. In his reign Prince Eugene of Savoy 
completed the defeat of the Turks by the taking of Bel- 
grade, but the Emperor was too much occupied to push 
the advantage gained, and a later campaign was less suc- 
cessful. By the Treaty of Belgrade all Servia was ceded 
to the Porte. 

With the accession of Maria Theresa came a change in 



THE STORY OF HUNGARY 47 

the relations of the Magyars to their rulers. Bavaria, 
aided by France, and Prussia, the new military state which 
was rising into prominence, opposed the accession of 
Maria and the election of her husband as Emperor. She 
fled to Pozsony, where she appeared in the diet with her in- 
fant son in her arms, appealing to the loyalty of her brave 
Magyars. She addressed them in Latin, not in German, 
and promised to respect their rights if, in return, they 
would help her with their swords. The basis of her rela- 
tions with them was a romantic feeling on their part of 
personal devotion, which, however, did not prevent them, 
in their calmer moments, from looking well to their own 
interests. Largely by their aid Maria Theresa was eventu- 
ally established firmly on the throne, and her husband 
became Emperor, and she never forgot her gratitude to 
her Magyar subjects and spoke of them with her dying 
breath. 

The cordial relations established between Maria The- 
resa and the Magyars was the worst danger to the 
preservation of their nationality which they had yet en- 
countered, for her affection for them did not interfere with 
her desire for centralisation. Maria's influence drew the 
great nobles to her court at Vienna, where marriages were 
arranged and friendships formed outside the circle of their 
own nation. The attractions of the court did not, how- 
ever, appeal to the smaller nobles, who were, moreover, 
opposed to Maria's policy in freeing the peasant from 
serfdom. Another point of dissension between her and 
the Magyars was the position of the southern Slavs, 
especially those included in the military frontier. The 



48 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Empress desired to keep them all under the crown. The 
Magyars would not sanction this, and consequently many 
of the frontier colonies of Servians emigrated to Russia. 

Under Maria Theresa the Magyars gradually lost some 
of their independence. They were deprived of their power 
of voting certain indirect taxes, and of their independence 
in finance generally. All budgets had to be presented to a 
court of accounts in Vienna. They also lost certain po- 
litical powers which had formerly belonged to the provin- 
cial diets, but were now vested in a royal lieutenant. The 
Empress refused to ratify the right of resistance, but in 
introducing conscription into her dominions she excepted 
Hungary and the Tyrol. She founded military schools, 
and took public instruction under State instead of Church 
control. 

In 1773 the Jesuits were suppressed in Hungary, as in 
the rest of Europe, and in the reign of Joseph II. the 
Church was deprived of many privileges, and a real blow 
was struck at the power of the hierarchy throughout Aus- 
tria by the confiscation of the land of foreign bishops. 
But in his campaign of reform Joseph was not content 
with curbing the power of the Church; he determined also 
to undermine that of the nobles of his realm by granting 
full rights of ownership in the land they cultivated to the 
peasants of Bohemia, Moravia, Galicia, and Hungary. 
Although many of his reforms were enlightened and 
beneficial, the harshness of his rule was unbearable, and 
the excellence of his intentions did not prevent his schemes 
from going astray by reason of hasty execution. Fred- 
erick the Great of Prussia said of him : " Joseph always 




MAGYAR PEASANT GIRLS IN HOLIDAY DRESS 



THE STORY OF HUNGARY 49 

takes the second step before the first," and it was the fate 
of this well-intentioned monarch to fail in everything he 
undertook and to die when all his territories, especially 
Hungary, were seething with discontent. Joseph never 
convoked the Diet of Hungary, and would not be crowned 
with the crowns either of St. Stephen of Hungary or St. 
Venceslas of Bohemia. He declared that the only business 
of the Estates was to deliberate on matters presented by 
the sovereign. The result of this was to begin a genuine 
nationalist revival among both Magyars and Czechs. 

Joseph's successor, Leopold (1790- 1792), made con- 
cessions both to Church and the Magyar and Czech 
kingdoms, and he carried on the war with Turkey, which 
was the hope of the enslaved Servians. When he died 
the new French republic declared war on his successor as 
King of Hungary and Bohemia (for he had not yet been 
elected Emperor) , and in the wars that followed Austria 
Prussia, and the German States combined against the com- 
mon enemy, and the Hungarians, together with the fron- 
tier Slavs and Croatian Pandours, distinguished themselves 
in every battle. Napoleon, after a victorious entry into 
Vienna, endeavoured by intrigues to seduce the Hun- 
garians from their allegiance to the house of Habsburg, 
promising them a national king and full recognition of 
their independence. The bait was not taken, but the Mag- 
yars got little reward for their faithfulness to the House 
of Habsburg. The land was drained to supply soldiers, 
and fell out of cultivation, and the exchequer was ex- 
hausted by subsidies. When, after many vicissitudes, 
Francis was once more firmly seated on the throne, he 



50 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

would not convoke the Hungarian Diet until he was forced 
to do so at last by his failure to levy taxes (1821-25). 
The selfishness of the aristocracy was now, as ever, the 
great barrier to national progress; but nevertheless this 
was a period of a great revival. Szechenyi used Magyar 
in the debates of the Diet, a National Academy and 
Theatre were founded, and many works of public benefit 
were begun throughout the country, while in 1833 the 
Diet passed enactments ameliorating the condition of 
the peasants, and in 1 847 the Hungarian nobility — not the 
magnates or great nobles, but the smaller nobility, who 
were, and are, the backbone of the country, relinquished 
their class privileges, thus placing themselves in the fore- 
front of the liberal movement. The whole of Europe was 
now seething with the ideas of individual liberty and na- 
tional independence, and in 1 848 the Magyars were carried 
away with the wave of revolution and never afterwards, 
despite temporary checks, abandoned their programme of 
national development and complete political independence. 
This date begins a new era, and brings us almost to 
the period of contemporary history. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 

The derivation of the name Bohemia has been the sub- 
ject of more than one legend, but the one most usually 
accepted relates that a Celtic tribe, driven from Gaul, 
settled in the mountain-girt land and called it, after their 
own name, the land of the Boii — Bohemia. The name 
" Czech " has a similar legendary derivation, and the 
origin of the earliest national dynasty is also carried back 
to a mythical period. If an interesting fragment of an 
early poem (about which there is much controversy) is 
to be believed, the ancestors of the Czechs were originally 
a typical Slav people, holding the land on communistic 
tenure, but eventually deciding, as did the Jews, to choose 
a leader from their number and to reorganise their society 
on a monarchical basis. 

Still in the more or less legendary period of history we 
find Bohemia forming part of the great Slav confederacy 
of which Moravia, under Swatopluk, was the head. 
Against this Slav union was arrayed the great Frankish 
empire of Charlemagne, and the beginning of a conflict 
which was to last throughout the whole of the Dark and 
Middle Ages is found in the resistance of Moravia to 
the Christianising efforts of Charlemagne and his de- 
scendants. Charlemagne, we know, regarded himself as 
the champion and head of Christian Europe, and bishop- 

51 



52 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

rics were established throughout his wide domains, one 
of which, the bishopric of Regensburg, included Bohemia. 
Moravia, in the zenith of its power, defeated Charle- 
magne, and decided to counteract the Frankish influence 
by turning to the East for its Christianity. Nothing 
illustrates more clearly the intimate connection in the Slav 
mind between religious and national life than this act. 
The Latin church had its emissaries at the gates of 
Moravia, but they represented that Teutonic influence 
which the Slavs, even at this early period, felt to be the 
most dangerous enemy of their national independence. 
The result was the mission of Cyril and Methodius, of 
Thessalonica, to Moravia, where they had at once the 
greatest success. They came armed with a Slavonic form 
of the liturgy, some of the books of the Bible and the 
early Fathers, written in a character easily read by the 
Slavs, as it was formed from an old Slavonic character 
combined with Greek. Nothing was more certain to dis- 
arm Moravian and Bohemian suspicions than the fact that 
they thus obtained a Slavonic form of worship. 

The opposition of the Teutonic clergy to this encroach- 
ment on what they had hoped to secure as their own pre- 
serves led to more than one visit of the apostles of the 
Slavs to Rome, but their orthodoxy was completely 
acknowledged by Pope Adrian II. and Methodius was 
recognised as Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia. The 
Slavonic ritual is believed to have spread to Bohemia, 1 but 
that country remained under the bishopric of Regensburg, 

*For further account of the history of the Slavonic ritual see Chapter 
XIII. 



THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 53 

and the use of any but the Latin form was naturally dis- 
couraged. The dispute between the Latin and Slavonic 
forms of Christian worship continued to have a semi- 
political character. The Emperors, desiring especially to 
Teutonise, were the supporters of the German bishops, 
while the Pope was by no means averse to retaining the 
Moravians and their church in friendly relations as a 
check on the Emperor. The intrusion of a fresh and pagan 
element, however, broke up these political combinations 
altogether, and a fresh phase of Slavonic history begins 
in which Bohemia no longer plays a subservient part. 
This epoch-making event was the Magyar invasion of the 
ninth century, which was invoked partly by the Emperor 
Arnulf, who violated all Christian principles by calling 
in pagan tribes to fght against Christian Moravia. The 
Magyars not only came and conquered, but, having colo- 
nised the fertile central plain, by their eruption they cut 
the Slav confederacy in two and destroyed forever the 
chances of a Slav dominion in central Europe. Moravia 
was utterly crushed, but Bohemia seems to have rather 
benefited at first by the destruction of her overshadowing 
neighbour. 

Already the Bohemians had begun that chain of defi- 
nite relations which was to connect them with the 
Empire, and at this period it was obviously essential that 
they should recognise their former enemies as their only 
possible protectors against the Magyar tribes. They paid 
tribute in oxen and silver, an exaction which Henry the 
Fowler imposed in the time of St. Vaclav in the year 928 
A. D. Vaclav was compelled to this submission by the 



54 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

invasion of his territory, and his act, which first placed 
Bohemia under a German yoke, was resented by many of 
his people. Vaclav had recognised the jurisdiction of the 
see of Regensburg and this estranged some of the Bo- 
hemians from Christianity. The piety of Vaclav, and his 
death at the hands of his brother while hearing mass, 
have caused him to be canonised as the patron saint of 
Bohemia. Boleslav the " Terrible " was unable to resist 
the German arms and also paid tribute, and in the tenth 
century Bohemia was also torn by conflicts between Chris- 
tians and pagans, as well as by disputes between her nobles 
and reigning family. In the eleventh century the period 
of national greatness for the Czechs may be said to have 
begun in earnest. Parts of Poland (Silesia) and of 
Hungary were conquered, and St. Stephen, the first Chris- 
tian king of Hungary (who is said to owe his conversion 
to a Bohemian monk) agreed to an arrangement whereby 
the northern part of Moravia was ceded to Bohemia, and 
remains a province of the Bohemian crown, while the 
southern portion was incorporated with Hungary. The 
Slovaks of northern Hungary, a race akin to the Czechs, 
and speaking the same language (albeit an archaic and 
dialectical form of it), are the remains of the Moravian 
population, which thus passed under the Hungarian crown. 
The anti-German feeling of the Bohemians was revived 
at this period by the attempts made by the Teuton Em- 
perors to limit the expansion and retard the growth of the 
Bohemian dukedom, and so fierce did the race war become 
that Duke Sobeslav actually decreed the expulsion of all 
Germans from his domains. By this time the tributary 



THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 55 

position of Bohemia had been modified, as, by a treaty 
with Lothair, the latter recognised the right of the 
Bohemians to make their own elections, which were only 
to be ratified by the Emperor. Another step forward was 
the inclusion of their Duke in the elections of the Empire. 
The reader of the first chapter of this book will remember 
that the procedure at these elections was not definitely fixed 
till the thirteenth century, but the position and prerogatives 
of the elector states were already partially established in 
the eleventh, and the fact that Duke Bretislav became an 
elector about 1050 marks a distinct step forward in Bo- 
hemian evolution. At the end of the eleventh century the 
strength and importance of Bohemia were recognised more 
signally. The Duke Vratislav offered his help to the Em- 
peror Henry IV. in his life and death struggle with Pope 
Gregory VII., and was rewarded with the title of king, 
which, however, was not inherited by his successors but 
fell into abeyance. Nevertheless, Bohemia was partially 
released from her tributary condition, on condition of find- 
ing so many soldiers for the Imperial service. The death 
of Vratislav ushered in a period of disorders and racial 
strife, which were aggravated by the ambitions of the 
Emperor, of the House of Saxony, who came to the 
Imperial throne in 1126. By one of those kaleidoscopic 
changes in policy of which history has so many examples 
we next find Bohemia, under a wise and able duke, as the 
ally and friend of the Empire, helping to elect Frederick 
Barbarossa to the throne. Vladislav, the duke of the 
period, was not only a reforming ruler within his own 
domains but anxious to secure, by participating in Im- 



$6 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

perial affairs, the greatness of his country from the Euro- 
pean point of view. His ambition led him to promise 
Eelp to Barbarossa in his Italian campaigns, a pledge 
which the Bohemian Estates, standing on their constitu- 
tional rights, were by no means inclined to fulfil. They at 
once declared they were not bound to raise soldiers for 
foreign warfare. Nevertheless Vladislav got his troops 
and as a reward Frederick bestowed once more the kingly 
title upon Bohemia, where it became hereditary, not, how- 
ever, in the reign of Vladislav or his son but in 1212, 
when it was confirmed in the Premysl dynasty by the 
Golden Bull then issued. 

Until the first years of the fourteenth century Bohemia 
remained under the native dynasty of the Premyslides, 
and toward the end of the thirteenth century Premysl 
Ottocar II. became the head of a dominion which recalls 
the fleeting power of Svatopluk. He was King of Bo- 
hemia and Moravia, Silesia, and Lusitania, and by con- 
quest and annexation he ruled for a short time over 
Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola: that is, almost 
from the gates of Berlin to the Adriatic. This was the 
golden period of Czech history, for at no subsequent time 
did a native king enjoy such power. 

The process of Germanisation began in Bohemia, even 
under the native rulers, with the emigration of German 
colonists to the frontier districts and the settlement of 
German traders in the towns. These colonists and traders 
frequently obtained special privileges and were practically 
autonomous. The Slav races have never been a conspicu- 
ously town-building people, and the Czechs in Bohemia 



THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 57 

were mainly agriculturists, leaving all trade and commerce 
to the Germans. A fourteenth century writer comments 
on the danger of the growing influence of the Germans on 
the Czech nationality. When the Slav population was 
reduced to serfdom under the feudal lords foreigners 
always retained their privileges. Thus the German mu- 
nicipalities had a free and settled government, and were 
fostered by the king as helping to check the ambitious 
nobles, at the same time that the native population was 
reduced to abject serfdom. Although the Czechs were en- 
couraged by their national rulers to take part in this 
municipal life, the jealousy between the two races proved 
an obstacle. 

John of Luxembourg succeeded the last of the 
Premyslide dynasty, having married the princess Eliza- 
beth (a daughter of the house), whom he treated with 
great cruelty. He was an insatiable fighter, spending most 
of his time away from Bohemia engaging in any dispute 
which was going on. He lost his sight from a wound, 
and appears in English history as the blind King of Bo- 
hemia, who was killed at Crecy, in 1346, where he was 
assisting his friend and relative, Philip of Valois, against 
the English. His crest of three feathers and his most in- 
appropriate motto, " Ich dien," familiar to English people 
as borne by the Prince of Wales, are an inheritance from 
the Black Prince, the victor of Cregy. 

The reign of his son, Charles IV., who was elected 
Emperor in 1347, marks a second golden age for Bo- 
hemia, and although he was not a Czech he is called the 
" Father of his people." He was a beneficent monarch, 



58 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

beautified Prague, and founded the university there. 
Moreover, as Charles was Emperor, and as he always 
regarded Prague as his home, the Bohemian capital be- 
came also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and 
the foremost city of Europe in consequence. By the 
Golden Bull of 1355 Charles finally settled the constitu- 
tional position of Bohemia, which was no longer tributary 
but was one of the electors of the Electoral College of the 
Empire. It is believed that there was a considerable Bo- 
hemian literature of this early period, but unfortunately 
only a few original MSS. have been preserved. In the 
same Golden Bull, by which Charles established the law 
of Germany throughout his domains, there is a passage 
which is interesting in view of the constantly recurring 
contest between the German and Czech languages. It pro- 
vides that the families of the King of Bohemia, Count 
Palatine of the Rhine, and Margrave of Brandenburg, 
who are bound to speak German from the cradle, must 
also learn Slav from the age of seven, a provision which 
illustrates very clearly the extent to which Germany, at 
this period, was inhabited by Slav peoples, and the tenacity 
with which they preserved their language. 

In the next reign began the terrible religious struggles 
which were almost to destroy Bohemia. It was a period 
of religious upheaval. The great schism which had rent 
the Romish Church, and set up a divided Papal authority 
at Rome and at Avignon, had shaken men's faith in the 
infallibility of the Church, while the rapacity of the great 
ecclesiastical lords had sorely tried their patience. John 
Huss, the national hero of Bohemia (who was influenced 



THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 59 

by the English reformer, Wyckliffe) ' stood for the Czech 
people, their ancient language and rights, against the ag- 
gressions of the German lords, spiritual as well as tem- 
poral. As the result of changes in the constitution of the 
University of Prague, introduced at the instigation of 
Huss, the German masters and students left the university 
in a body and migrated to Leipsic. The Emperor Charles 
had intended it to be the real intellectual centre of his 
empire, and five " nations " were represented on its coun- 
cils. The Czechs, however, were swamped by the German 
element, and Huss persuaded the king to an alteration 
which would have secured their supremacy. Until this 
time Latin had been the written language of Bohemia, the 
tongue of its schools and of its church services. Huss 
retired into the country and poured out pamphlets and 
books in Czech denying the supremacy of the Pope, de- 
nouncing the sale of indulgences, and endeavouring to 
stimulate the national pride of the Czechs and to purify 
their written language by eliminating Latinisms. His death 
lighted a flame throughout the country, but his followers 
went much further than he in heresy and eventually split 
up into many sects, an unfortunate division which has- 
tened their final overthrow. Before this came, however, 
the Czechs had become the terror of Europe and the Pope 
preached a crusade against them. Had not internal jeal- 
ousies turned them against each other, and had not the 
stern, but really religious, spirit of their early days been 
lost in dogmatic hair-splittings and in the lawless habits 
of freebooters, the Hussites might have successfully 
founded a new Czech state. As it was, to secure peace, the 



60 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

majority of the nobles offered the crown to the Emperor 
Sigismund (who was, in fact, the legitimate heir) on the 
condition that their nationality and religion should be 
respected. 

It is interesting to note, at this point, an early connec- 
tion between the two great houses of Hohenzollern and 
Habsburg. Frederick of Hohenzollern, Burg-graf of 
Niirnberg, had been the supporter, if not the proposer, 
of Rudolf of Habsburg for the Imperial crown in 1273. 
Now the Imperial crown had passed to the house of Lux- 
embourg — the chief opponents of the Habsburgs — and 
we find another Frederick of Hohenzollern assisting the 
Emperor Sigismund in the wars against the Bohemian sect 
of the Utraquists, and receiving as a reward the mar- 
graviate of Brandenburg. Strange that the ancestor of 
the strictly Protestant kings of Prussia should have won his 
first promotion by fighting for Catholicism against free- 
dom of conscience ! 

In the fifteenth century Bohemia again had a national 
king in the person of the wise and valiant George of 
Podiebrad, who was the first non-Catholic king in the 
history of Europe, and the only Protestant king of Bo- 
hemia. His position was not at first, however, that of a 
heretic (who at this period of history would have been 
unrecognised by Pope and Emperor), since he actually 
undertook at his accession to suppress " heresy," and was 
so anxious to secure a legal coronation that he borrowed 
two orthodox bishops from Hungary. The Utraquist 
church, to which he belonged, did not, in fact, own that 
it was heretical but claimed to be a return to a purer and 



THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 61 

more primitive form of the Apostolic Church. The 
Catholic opposition, however, made it difficult for George 
to retain his position, and, as he had no son, he recom- 
mended the Bohemian diet to elect as his successor a 
foreign prince, Vladyslav of Poland. Vladyslav was also 
elected King of Hungary in 1490, thus uniting the two 
crowns. His son was that Louis whose death on the fate- 
ful field of Mohacs, fighting against the Turks, marks 
such an important era in the history of Austria-Hungary. 
The House of Habsburg was by this time ruling over 
nearly all Europe, for the enormous territory of Maxi- 
milian had just passed to his two grandsons; Charles, the 
elder and Emperor, taking Spain and the Burgundian 
lands, and Ferdinand, Germany and the hereditary posses- 
sions of the Austrian house. Bohemia was, of course, a 
state of the Empire, and her king had before now been 
elected Emperor. Now the case was reversed. Ferdinand, 
afterwards Emperor, claimed by his marriage contract and 
connection to be heir to the Bohemian crown, and was in 
fact duly accepted. Although he was known to be a stern 
and rigid Catholic Bohemia did not fear so much for her 
religious as for her national privileges and her power over 
the dependencies, Moravia and Silesia; and her Estates 
elected Ferdinand as King (1526), thus originating the 
connection, so long feared and avoided, of the House of 
Austria with Bohemia. This election, principally secured 
by the bribery of one of the Influential nobles, was the 
beginning of a period of conflict between the constitutional 
rights of the class to which that noble belonged and autoc- 
racy, in the persons of the Habsburg rulers. 



62 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

The religious question has always played so important 
a part in the history of Bohemia that it cannot be passed 
over at this point without further explanation. In the 
latter half of the fifteenth century a religious community 
was founded which, though for a long time known as the 
" Bohemian Brotherhood," 2 is now familiar to us as the 
Moravians, who are specially celebrated for their success 
in mission work. Originally resembling the Quakers of 
England and America, this was essentially a humble, peace- 
ensuing community, and the steadfast fervour of its ad- 
herents resisted all persecution. 

Bohemia had become, after the peasant rising in Ger- 
many, a refuge for the persecuted Anabaptists, and an 
attempt made to affiliate these militant Christians with 
the Brotherhood prejudiced Ferdinand against the latter. 
The beginning of the sixteenth century had seen, in the 
setting up of printing presses, a powerful aid to the dis- 
semination of new doctrines, and the successful revolt of 
Luther against the Papacy and the Confession of Augs- 
burg encouraged the Bohemian heretics to hope for a 
surer foundation of their religious privileges. They had 
to contend, however, not only with the Catholics and the 
Emperor, but w T ith the Utraquists, the historical descend- 
ants of the Hussites, who had secured the recognition of 
their church by the Pope, and were by no means favour- 
able to the more extreme Protestant sects. Therefore, al- 
though all the Protestants were unanimous in resisting 
Ferdinand's attempt to bring uniformity into the Church 
in his dominions, the Bohemian Brothers were ultimately 

2 The Bohemian name was " Unity of the Brethren." 



THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 63 

the scapegoats, and were finally expelled from every part 
of the kingdom save Moravia. It is interesting to find 
that the Estates of this ancient and long-subject kingdom 
retained sufficient independence to protect these perse- 
cuted Christians and actually to defy the Emperor when 
he demanded their expulsion from Moravia. 

The Habsburgs were from the first bigoted opponents 
of the Reformed religion. Charles V. did not appreciate 
at the Diet of Worms, in 152 1, either the personal force 
of Luther or the movement which he represented, still 
less the extreme heretical sects. In Bohemia, as in the rest 
of their possessions, the Austrian Habsburgs attempted to 
suppress Protestantism by persecution, just as the Spanish 
house tried to stamp it out in the Netherlands. To 
be " made a Catholic " became a threat of punishment 
from mother to child. In Bohemia estates were trans- 
ferred wholesale to a horde of foreigners, while in Styria 
the entire nobility, excepting seven families, were deprived 
of their estates. The leading thinkers of the day were 
driven abroad. The growth of Protestantism in Germany, 
however, went on by leaps and bounds and reacted on the 
rest of Europe. The Smallkaldic League of Protestant 
Princes was founded in 1542, and, although the death of 
Luther four years later removed a great pillar of the 
Reformation, the movement continued to spread and, at 
the death of Ferdinand, his son Maximilian, who suc- 
ceeded him, was more tolerant to Protestantism and espe- 
cially to the doctrines of Luther. 

The religious question in Bohemia was, however, by no 
means settled. The Bohemians wanted a national church 



64 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

as a rallying point, for they resented the Germanising 
influences of the Lutherans. Ferdinand had succeeded 
in gaining from the Pope concessions to the Utraquists, 
which, as mentioned already, gained them a position 
as a recognised church. But from this time onward 
Utraquism, divorced from the sentiment of national and 
religious independence, ceased to be a force in Bohemian 
history. For a time it retained its own consistory, but its 
members were gradually absorbed either by the Catholic 
or Protestant communities. The Bohemian brothers were 
rent by dissensions which impaired their influence as a 
national party. Meanwhile a powerful organisation had 
been for some little time at work in Bohemia — the newly 
founded Jesuit order — and in the period of peace from 
internal wars and consequently of development, which 
followed the accession of the House of Habsburg to the 
Bohemian throne, the Jesuits became extremely influential 
through their traditional policy of educating children and 
arranging marriages for their pupils. In the last quarter 
of the sixteenth century a fresh campaign of persecution 
began against the Bohemian Brothers, whose quondam 
protectors, some of the Bohemian nobles, were turned 
against them by Jesuit influences. The opposition of the 
Moravian Estates was the only check to this movement, 
although it had no very strong support from Rudolf, the 
son of Maximilian. The lack of a rallying point for re- 
ligious and national feeling, together with the influence 
of the Jesuits, combined at this period to undermine the 
national sentiment of the Czechs. 

With the decline and death of Rudolf came the be- 



THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 65 

ginning of the last struggle for Bohemian independence, 
provoked largely by his growing encroachments on national 
privileges. At first the struggle took the form of intrigues 
to supplant him by his brother Matthias, but out of 
the tangled web one line gradually disengaged itself — 
the possibility of freeing the country forever from the 
tyranny of the Habsburgs, — and in this movement the aid 
of Bethlen Gabor, prince of Transylvania, who was chosen 
by some Magyar nobles to be prince of Hungary, was a 
stimulating factor. The Elector Palatine, whose wife was 
a daughter of James I. of England, became King of 
Bohemia — the Winter King — in 16 19, after the solemn 
deposition of Ferdinand II., who had succeeded Mat- 
thias both as king and Emperor. The Bohemian revolt 
was, however, predestined to failure. In the first place it 
had no real support from the mass of the people, who had 
been reduced from the condition of a free peasantry to 
that of serfdom during the feudal period. This process, 
which reduced the free communistic Slav to the level of a 
chattel of his lord, so that he could be sold (and was) 
with land or fish ponds, began as early as the time of 
Boleslav the Cruel, when that duke replaced the judges 
of the " Zupa," or village councils, with his own nominees, 
who were able to sell their offices or make them heredi- 
tary. The result was to form a class of official nobles, who 
oppressed the people and with the money obtained bought 
up their land, while at the same time the growth of feudal- 
ism throughout Europe, and the number of small wars in 
which prisoners were often sold, completed the work of 
enslavement. The profession of arms was now confined 



66 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

to the paid soldiers, who became, under the feudal lords 
instruments of oppression to the helpless serfs. In the 
fourteenth century, under the beneficent rule of Charles 
IV., some improvement was effected in the position of the 
people, but the religious wars of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries undid this good and reduced the peasants to 
misery. Naturally these serfs did not see any prospect of 
gain in supporting the nobles in a fresh war. They might, 
perhaps, have joined in the revolt if their demands had 
been listened to, but they had been to a great extent re- 
leased from the fear of religious persecution by concessions 
made by the Emperor, and felt nothing but horror at the 
prospect of a war which would bring them no benefits 
in the shape of political and social rights. Then there 
was the lack of a really strong leader, for the Elector 
was singularly unfitted for the post, while the fatal mis- 
take which the Bohemians constantly made of intriguing 
with German states (whose loyalty to the Emperor was 
a matter of convenience) was also against the success 
of the revolt. At the battle of the White Mountain 
(November 8, 1620), the Imperial troops put the Protes- 
tant army to flight, the chest containing all the charters 
of Bohemian privileges was sent to Ferdinand at Vienna, 
and in the following year the Bohemian leaders were 
executed, the constitution was suppressed, a,nd the landed 
property confiscated and apportioned to foreigners — 
Germans, Italians, French, and Spaniards. The univer- 
sity became a Jesuit college and German replaced Latin 
as the literary and official language. From this time till 
early in the nineteenth century — nearly two centuries — Bo- 




A BOHEMIAN CASTLE 




STREET IN TABOR, BOHEMIA 



THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 67 

hernia was in a state of lethargy, and it was not until after 
1 8 1 5 that the national movement recommenced in earnest. 

Ferdinand and his successors ruled Bohemia with iron 
despotism. Moreover, in the heart of that kingdom was 
a disintegrating force in the German settlements and 
colonies which represented the prosperous commercial life 
of the country. The really national industry of mining 
which was the mainstay of the country and at its centre 
(Kutna Hora) enthusiastically Protestant, was entirely 
wiped out by Ferdinand's persecutions. The Protestant 
nobles specially fell under the ban, and Protestants of any 
rank were driven abroad while their places were filled with 
German Catholics, and under the influence of these new 
masters the people began to forget their national lan- 
guage and traditions. In the course of the Thirty Years' 
War, it is true, the victories of Gustavus Adolphus led to 
the partial return of the Protestant nobles; but the suffer- 
ings of Bohemia, which was one of the principal battle- 
grounds, and particularly of Prague, which was occupied 
more than once by each army in turn and sacked of its 
artistic treasures, more than counterbalanced, from the 
point of view of national progress, the benefits of the 
Protestant victories. 

When Charles VI., who succeeded Ferdinand, was bent 
on securing the succession of his daughter to all his do- 
minions he convoked the Bohemian Estates to obtain their 
adherence to the Pragmatic Sanction. This was granted 
after deliberations lasting about a year, but the Estates, 
while confirming the hereditary succession of the House 
of Habsburg-Lorraine, reserved their right to choose for 



68 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

themselves should that dynasty fail. Taken in conjunction 
with various laws and enactments, in which the Habs- 
burgs recognised the elective powers of the Bohemian 
Estates, this act forms a strong link in the chain of evi- 
dence on which the Czechs base their " historic rights." 
Maria Theresa was actually crowned at Prague, and the 
Czechs have never abandoned their contention that this is 
juridically essential, since they contend that their country 
belongs to the Habsburgs, not by conquest but with the 
consent of their Estates and people. 

The succession of Maria Theresa, in 1740, saw un- 
happy Bohemia invaded by the Bavarians and Prus- 
sians before it was finally secured again to the House of 
Habsburg, and in the settlement part of Silesia remained 
in the hands of Prussia, being lost to the Bohemian crown. 
Maria Theresa, though a wise ruler, was a stern mistress 
to the Czechs, but she sanctioned an important reform for 
one section of them, the peasants, who by her efforts were 
released from their condition of serfdom. After being 
crowned at Prague, she took the national crown to Vienna, 
deprived the Estates of the control, hitherto exercised, of 
the money they contributed toward the Imperial army, 
arranged that appeals should go to the High Court of 
Vienna, and that the Chancery of Prague should be 
absorbed in that of the Imperial Court. A more benefi- 
cent measure was the modification of the old criminal law, 
which was made uniform with that of the rest of the Aus- 
trian dominions, while schools were founded in which, how- 
ever, the language taught was to be German, not Czech. 
Maria Theresa's son Joseph was not a bigoted Catholic, 



THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 69 

but he resented the refusal of his Protestant subjects to 
conform to either one or the other of the confessions of 
faith recognised by the great Protestant sects. As the 
Bohemians had always desired religious independence and 
a national church, they were not prepared to accept any 
confession of German origin. Joseph also attempted in- 
ternal reforms which were not acceptable to the Czechs, 
and in his desire to form a strong centralised state he 
adopted a general policy of denationalisation and the 
restriction of all rights and liberties which might tend to 
foster a national feeling. 

At the same time the suppression of the Jesuits removed 
one of the most insidious of the forces at work within 
the Czech nation, and a genuine revival began slowly but 
surely to awaken under the stimulating force of so much 
opposition. It was at first purely literary. In 1793 a 
Chair of Czech was established at Prague University, 
and in 18 16 the National Museum was founded at Prague 
for the collection of all kinds of Bohemian antiquities. 
Immediately began a controversy over ancient manu- 
scripts and relics in which the champions of national 
greatness combated the assertions of German critics, who 
would not allow that the Czechs could have possessed any 
civilisation which had not come from German sources. 

A great stimulus to all the branches of the Slav race 
was given, in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, 
by the heroic struggle in which the Servians and Bul- 
garians threw off the Ottoman yoke. Then the Greeks 
began to dream of a similar exploit, but were roughly 
checked by Austria, who used all her influence to prevent 



70 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Russia from going to war with Turkey and so helping the 
Balkan states to liberty. Her narrow, conservative attitude 
was as significant of her position toward the Slavs as was 
the attempt to repress the growth of liberalism and na- 
tionalism in the German states of her real place in modern 
Europe. Another stimulus was given to the southern 
Slavs — the Slovenes, Croatians, and Dalmatians — and in- 
directly to the Czechs, by the French occupation, during 
the Napoleonic period, of what was called Illyria — the 
Adriatic provinces. Under French influence there was a 
revival in literature and art which afforded genuine sup- 
port to the renascent sentiment of Slav patriotism. 

From that time until 1848 the national spirit of the 
Slav peoples, and particularly of the Czechs, grew daily 
stronger, strengthened continually by the researches of 
antiquarians who found many traces of the ancient Bo- 
hemian civilisation and the literary and artistic achieve- 
ments of the Slavs, while the studies of their historians 
confirmed them in their pride in their national and historic 
greatness. 



CHAPTER Vi 

THE HOUSE OF HABSBURG AND MODERN EUROPE 

The Treaty of Vienna, in 1815, and the Holy Alliance, 
whereby Austria, Russia, and Prussia combined to secure 
(inter alia) "religion, peace, and justice," ushered in 
a period in which the forces of individualism and the 
demands of long-crushed peoples for political rights were 
struggling to the surface throughout Europe, despite the 
attempts to keep them down. Austria was the most reac- 
tionary force. The House of Habsburg, with Metternich 
as its adviser, believed the whole monarchical system, 
and more especially its own safety, to depend on main- 
taining the status quo throughout Europe; by preserving 
the conservative forces against anarchy, and preventing 
the rise of new nationalities or groupings. The great aim 
was to revive once more the Holy Roman Empire of the 
Middle Ages with its wide sway, its feudal organisation, 
and the House of Habsburg as the cornerstone. That the 
conception was entirely out of date did not prevent it 
being seriously pursued, and the policy of repression found 
its vent in an inquisitorial secret police system, in the sup- 
pression of the press, and in other measures which are 
best described as " sitting on the safety valve." In Naples 
and Piedmont Austrian troops helped to quell popular 
risings, and Austria was the only power which refused to 

71 



72 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

recognise the independence of Greece in 1829. At this 
period the Austrian " Empire " comprised the provinces 
hereditary in the House of Habsburg, ten in number, 
now known as Upper and Lower Austria; the kingdom 
of Bohemia, with its dependency, Moravia; Galicia and 
Bukowina; the Venetian provinces of north Italy which, 
with Mantua and Milan, were later erected into the 
kingdom of Lombardy and Venice; while the kingdom 
of Hungary comprised the principality of Transylvania 
and the old kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia. The 
House of Austro-Este also reigned in Modena, and the 
duchy of Parma had been given to the Archduchess Maria 
Louisa (wife of Napoleon), while Tuscany had an Aus- 
trian archduke. It will be seen, therefore, that the pos- 
ition of Francis I. was as important as that of his pred- 
ecessors; while, dominating Italy, by the preponderance 
of Austro-German states in the Germanic confederation, 
he had secured the hegemony of Germany. 

There was never any attempt on the part of the Habs- 
burgs to accommodate their rule to the ideas of their 
various subjects; on the contrary their one historical am- 
bition was to press all and sundry into the same mould 
and unify them by force. The " Germanisation," which 
was their policy toward Slav, Magyar, and Italian alike, 
was not an attempt to introduce the features which we 
associate with modern Germany, for the liberalism and 
patriotism of that country as we know it to-day were the 
objects of equally severe repression. 

In 1 8 15 the first mutterings of the storm led to a hasty 
concession to German national feeling in the formation 




Hovse of HabsLurg //// 



1509-12 




I.cn f Uud* -wet trv„, Q^n^ai 



Tkelmpire of Napoleon i8o9-i8±2 ^ Confederation of RW dffi) Hovse of Hatsturg 



THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 73 

of a national German Diet, which was expected to usher 
in a period of reform. Austria, however, sat like a heavy 
weight on all popular tendencies, and it was not until 
1832 that the growing liberalism began to make itself 
heard. Among the members of the Hungarian Diet of 
that year were Louis Batthyanyi, Francis Deak, and Louis 
Kossuth, and Hungary was strong enough to secure, be- 
tween 1839-43, really important concessions, while Kos- 
suth's paper, the Pesti Hirlap, taught the people their 
rights. Bohemia, at this time, cherished the hope that by 
the unification of Germany, in which the Czech state 
would be one of the strong factors, she might secure her 
own integrity and independence. The Czech historian 
Palacky declared that the preservation of Austria was a 
necessity for Europe and his own people. 

All this time the nationalist revivals among the Mag- 
yars and Czechs had continued to gather force, while 
Italy groaned under the Austrian tyranny. The downfall 
of Louis Philippe, in February, 1848, gave the signal for 
revolution all over central Europe. In March there was 
an insurrection in Milan, and Venice rose tp expel the 
Austrian. Then a Czech insurrection broke out in Prague, 
and a revolutionary government was formed there. The 
court fled from Vienna, where the students of the univer- 
sity joined with the revolutionary forces. The flames 
spread to the German states, the King of Bavaria was 
forced to abdicate in favour of his son, and government 
after government was obliged in panic fear to accede to 
the demands for popular representation and reforms. 
Metternich, who fought to the last for autocracy, fell for- 



74 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

ever and was a fugitive. The attempt to satisfy popular 
claims by appointing a " national " government, of which 
the Archduke John of Austria was elected president, 
proved in the long run quite futile, but meanwhile Austria, 
with remarkable vitality, weathered the storm. Austrian 
troops under Radetzky were victorious in Italy, and the 
principle of divide et impera proved successful nearer 
home. 

Hungary did not look on unmoved at this upheaval, 
and began to press for independence. The Croatians, who 
had been inclined at first to join in the revolt, were 
detached from the general movement by their antipathy 
to the Hungarians, whose dependents they were. Vienna 
was still in a state of revolution and the Emperor was at 
Innsbruck. Encouraged by his unexpected success in Italy, 
Ferdinand I. decided to make war on Hungary despite 
his previous promises and concessions to the Magyars. 
Vienna at once revolted against this decision, many of the 
troops joined the insurgents, and Latour, the war minister, 
was literally torn to pieces by the infuriated mob. The 
Hungarians, who had refused to join in the Italian cam- 
paign and murdered Count Lamberg, who was sent as 
viceroy to Buda, then formed a committee of national 
defence under Kossuth. War was now inevitable but, 
although at first the Magyars were successful, they were 
eventually overcome by a powerful combination of Rus- 
sian, Austrian, and Croatian forces in August, 1849. 

In 1848 Ferdinand abdicated his throne in favour of 
his nephew, Francis Joseph, who at the early age of nine- 
teen succeeded to an empire which at the moment of his 




eripnan confe 




^ercian eonfed Red lir^e 
Austrian empire RWu' 



mpire Black lirva 



Prussia 



r '11 *t i tt Ho ^e of Habsburg 

^-oUa-terai Hov^e>s * 



THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 75 

accession was in flames from one end to another, while his 
capital was under revolutionary influence. In a compara- 
tively short time, however, the flames were stamped out. 
General Heynau conducted sanguinary reprisals in Hun- 
gary, and, peace restored, the young monarch directed his 
attention to the consolidation of his power. 

Ten years of reaction followed. Francis Joseph has 
always been a humane and tolerant monarch, but behind 
him was the implacable figure of his mother, the Arch- 
duchess Sophia, whose one aim was the preservation of 
the House of Habsburg. The Catholic church lent its 
powerful support to the family, which was now the only 
reigning house of Europe faithful to her and the chief 
barrier against the rising tide of nationalism in Italy. In 
1849 tne Austrian prelates protested against all national 
movements as " a remnant of paganism." Difference of 
language was " the consequence of sin and the fall of 
man." In return the Austrian concordat of 1855 con- 
ferred increased power on the Church, giving her un- 
limited control over all ecclesiastical and educational 
matters. For a time political life was entirely at a stand- 
still and absolutism reigned in Church and State. The 
condition of the finances remained chaotic, and the deficit 
was piled up until, in 1859, it amounted to 280,000,000 
florins. 

The Germanisation of the Slavs and Magyars was car- 
ried on through a ruthless bureaucracy, and the people 
who had helped to preserve the dynasty — the Croats — 
were no better off than those who tried to destroy it. 
Hungary was deprived of the last vestige of self-govern- 



76 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

ment, and a general state of siege was maintained, which 
was only ended ultimately by an amnesty in 1857. Tran- 
sylvania was placed directly under the Austrian crown and 
the three alien races in Hungary — the Roumanians, Ser- 
vians, and Germans — were each to become autonomous. 
Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia (the old Hungarian sea- 
board) were formed into a state dependent directly on 
Austria, and a similar policy was followed with regard to 
Bohemia and Galicia. Trial by jury and right to public 
trial were suppressed; the election of municipal bodies was 
suspended; the equality of the German, Czech, and Mag- 
yar languages in schools ceased; the Austrian police 
interfered even in the courts ; liberty of the press was still 
further curtailed, and papers were no longer allowed to 
be published in either the Czech or Magyar languages. 
The treatment of the Italian possessions and Galicia was 
equally drastic and absolute. 

On the German stage Austria was occupied with a 
struggle to maintain her supremacy over the states. The 
constitutions granted by the various governments were 
gradually, owing to Austrian influence, revoked or an- 
nulled, and though the states increased in material pros- 
perity, and were allowed freedom of discussion in the 
press, the people were still under a more or less paternal 
despotism and had no genuine political rights. Prussia, 
whence deliverance was to come, had been obliged to give 
way before Austria at Olmiitz, in 1850, and was engaged 
for some years in internal struggles for constitutional 
rights, suffering an eclipse of the prestige she had formerly 
enjoyed, until, in 1861, the accession of William I. and the 



THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 77 

growing power of Bismarck ushered in a period of victor- 
ious militarism. 

During the Crimean War (1854-56) Austria was in 
a difficult position, for, while she owed her preservation 
in 1849 largely to Russia, she was by no means desirous 
that Russian influence should increase in the Balkans. She 
remained neutral, but her influence was anti-Russian and 
led to the famous remark of Schwarzenberg — " Austria's 
ingratitude will astonish the world." 

Meanwhile affairs in Italy were becoming critical. In 
1848 Pope Pius IX. (although a staunch friend of the 
House of Habsburg) had declared himself on the side of 
constitutional liberties, with the result that, as his sub- 
jects went further than he was prepared for, he had to 
fly to Naples in the disguise of a footman, and was only 
restored to his capital by an army of the French Republic. 
From that time Rome was held for him by a French gar- 
rison. In the meantime Sardinia began to assume in Italy 
the place of Prussia in Germany, and in the Treaty of 
Paris, in 1856, Cavour, the Sardinian Bismarck, raised 
the question of Italy in an unexpected manner. Austria 
and Sardinia were soon in collision; Napoleon III., in- 
variably hostile to the former, agreed to support Victor 
Emmanuel, and in the war of 1859 the Austrian troops 
were defeated at Magenta and Solferino and expelled 
from Lombardy, only Venice remaining to them. Cen- 
tral Italy, encouraged by these events, expelled its 
Habsburg rulers from Tuscany and Modena, and al- 
though the Pope, with an army of French mercenaries, 
endeavoured to hold his own he lost all his territory be- 



78 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

yond the Apennines. Sicily revolted against Naples, and 
the forces of Garibaldi, joined by those of Sardinia, were 
finally victorious before Gaeta, where the fugitive king 
of Naples surrendered, and, the Neapolitans having voted 
for annexation to Piedmont, Victor Emmanuel took the 
title of King of Italy (1861). It is unnecessary to follow 
the events in Italy closely. The Garibaldian revolt against 
the Pope and the part played by France in supporting 
Victor Emmanuel against the popular party in Italy, 
whose national enthusiasm threatened to draw down the 
intervention of Catholic Europe — this phase with all its 
complications ended in 1870, when, with the absorption 
of France in her own affairs, Victor Emmanuel was 
able to secure his own position and make Rome the capital 
of his kingdom. Henceforth the Popes were rulers only 
within the precincts of the Vatican. Thus finally ended 
the age-long struggle of the Popes to secure to themselves 
a temporal as well as a spiritual empire. Before this final 
debacle, however, the Austrians had lost almost the last 
remnants of their Italian possessions in the campaign of 
1866 when, despite the defeat of Victor Emmanuel at 
Custozza and at Lissa, they were obliged to abandon 
Venetia on account of the critical position at home and 
pressure brought to bear by Prussia. 

The disasters in Italy in 1859 were a crushing blow 
to the absolutist government at Vienna, and, combined 
with the pressing financial needs of the Habsburgs, led to 
the inauguration of a constitutional system; but before 
this could be established a fierce conflict raged between the 
supporters of various forms of government, and this con- 



THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 79 

flict has continued in modified forms ever since. There 
was one party strongly in favour of centralisation, this 
meaning government by the Crown and central adminis- 
tration in Vienna. The upholders of this view were chiefly 
the German middle class, who desired a strong central 
regime for liberal reforms and for protection against the 
clericals. They were joined by the representatives of 
the little nations — the Serbs, Poles, and the Saxons in 
Transylvania — who wanted a strong central protection 
from their neighbours. The federalist party, on the con- 
trary, was composed of peoples who claimed historic 
rights and continued to hope for independent national 
governments under a federal bond. They were the Czechs, 
Croats, Slovenes, and (in i860) the Italians of Venetia 
and Dalmatia. As the aristocratic form of society still 
prevailed, these peoples were represented by their nobility 
and clergy, and besides agitating for national rights they 
desired a return to the old aristocratic regime and were 
by no means in sympathy with the liberal views of the day. 
In the German provinces also these adherents of the old 
regime had supporters among the nobility and hierarchy, 
for already, it must be noted, the political cleavage was 
not solely on race lines. The federalists had a majority 
in i860 and promulgated a constitution which estab- 
lished the " fundamental law," recognised historic rights, 
and established an Imperial Council for financial and other 
legislative purposes. 

The Hungarians, restored to their ancient constitu- 
tional rights, promptly declared all acts done by the Gov- 
ernment without their consent since 1848 as null and void. 



/ 



80 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

They went back to their constitution of that date, and 
an impasse was created by their refusing to pay taxes not 
voted by their own Diet. Their contumacy was rewarded, 
for in 1 86 1 the Emperor, largely influenced by the finan- 
cial situation, which was desperate, adopted the advice 
of the minority and promulgated a fresh constitution. 
The outward form of this was calculated to satisfy the 
demands of the small but aspiring " nations," since they 
were to keep their own diets, which were to choose repre- 
sentatives to sit in what was called the Reichsrath, which 
comprised two chambers. The Emperor had the right to 
choose his own ministers and the upper house of the 
Reichsrath, appointing the latter from great landowners 
and thus retaining control of the government. The crux 
of the matter lay, however, in the clever manipulation 
of the electoral power. There is no manhood suffrage in 
Austria-Hungary; on the contrary an elaborate sliding 
scale of electoral qualifications. By the constitution of 
1 86 1 there were three bodies of electors — large land- 
owners, townsmen, and rural voters — and the first class 
secured a strong predominance. Nevertheless, the aristo- 
cratic party was displeased because of the provision of a 
council, common to the whole empire, to which they were 
to be subject, and by refusing to send members to this 
Reichsrath they attempted to break up the government. 
The theory of federal government was officially recog- 
nised, but the Austro-German bureaucracy retained all the 
strings of administration. 

In 1863 the demands of the German states led to an 
attempt to improve the cumbrous machinery of the Ger- 



THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 81 

manic Diet by a congress of princes at Frankfort (where 
Prussia, however, was not represented) which was of 
no practical utility. The Diet had become useless and 
powerless, and was the laughing stock of Europe for its 
antiquated procedure and tortuous methods. The rivalry 
between Austria and Prussia came to an issue in 1864 
after the Schleswig-Holstein war, the victors disputing 
over the spoil. Prussia eventually declared war and de- 
feated Austria at Sadowa (1866), the result being the 
entire break up of the Germanic confederation. Some of 
the middle states which had supported Austria were 
occupied by Prussia, and a new North German Federation 
was formed, having military alliances with other of the 
German states. 

In 1863 Polish affairs came to the front by reason of 
an insurrection in Russian Poland. Prussia concluded a 
military convention with Russia against the Poles, while 
Austria intrigued with both. Napoleon III., whose differ- 
ences with Prussia were rapidly leading up to a critical 
stage, was rendered uneasy by the growing influence of 
the house of Hohenzollern. In 1866 a prince of this 
house was elected to the throne of the Danubian princi- 
palities, and in 1870 another was candidate for the throne 
of Spain. Another significant incident was the dispute 
over the Luxembourg question in 1867. Napoleon en- 
deavoured, therefore, to cultivate relations with Austria, 
and with this end supported the Poles against Russia. 

The position of the Habsburgs at this period was far 
from satisfactory. They were now shut out from Ger- 
many and Italy; on the east was the menace of Russia and 



82 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

the Balkan states, while in the heart of the monarchy was 
the canker of the rising nationalities of Magyars and 
Czechs. Their army and finances were both in a ruined 
condition. Hungary was hostile during the 1866 war with 
Prussia and was only prevented by the speedy termination 
of the campaign from giving practical support to Prussia, 
while Bohemia, invaded by Prussia, was disturbed and 
disaffected. 

It became evident that the non-compromising attitude 
of the Habsburg dynasty was no longer tenable, and in 
this emergency Beust, a Saxon statesman who had opposed 
Bismarck in his policy of uniting the German states under 
Prussian hegemony, was called in (in his own words) " to 
wash up the dirty linen." 

The vigour Beust had shewn in Saxony, in opposing 
not only Bismarck but the growing liberalism and op- 
position to government, had gained him the reputation 
of a reactionary in Germany, but from an Austrian stand- 
point his policy was almost liberal. Looking round on the 
Austrian dominions he saw no chance of retaining them 
under the Habsburg dynasty except by securing the loyalty 
of the strongest of the different sections. This he be- 
lieved to be Hungary, which, despite every effort at 
repression, was a homogeneous and distinct nationality, 
and so far from being Germanised was engaged in Mag- 
yarising her subjects, Germans, Croats, or Serbs. On the 
other hand, the Emperor was entirely dissatisfied with the 
working of the 1861 constitution and with the Reichs- 
rath, which, instead of trying to bolster up his finances, 
only demanded accounts. He therefore decided to sus- 



THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 83 

pend the constitution, dismiss the Reichsrath, and to re- 
turn to the tradition of dualism. Beust advised his master 
to accede to the demands formulated by Deak, and in 
1867 the political independence of Hungary was estab- 
lished, and the emperor was crowned at Buda-Pest as a 
constitutional Hungarian monarch. The Ansgleich was 
thus an accomplished fact, and the duality of the mon- 
archy, which is a fundamental principle in Austria-Hun- 
gary, dates from this time. The actual organisation which 
thus came into being must be described later, but before 
actually taking up the subject of the monarchy as it exists 
to-day we must see how other parts of it fared in this 
period of reconstruction. 

The Slavs, particularly the Croats, helped to save 
the dynasty in 1848, and their reward had been a harsh 
measure of national repression. The Czechs had hoped 
to secure for the lands of St. Venceslav the same privileges 
that were assured to those of St. Stephen, but even in the 
limits of this slight sketch of the historical evolution of 
the Habsburg empire it must have become apparent that 
the Slav element was the one most distrusted by the 
Austrians. The rise of Russia, a great Slav power, was 
a strong influence in this, for the idea of pan-Slavism, 
which found expression as early as the seventeenth cen- 
tury, was a menace to German and Austrian supremacy 
in central Europe. Moreover, Servia, renascent, hung on 
the Austrian frontiers and cast longing eyes toward her 
lost provinces. As regards the southern Slavs, Beust was 
anxious to limit Austrian responsibilities as far as pos- 
sible, and Croatia was accordingly handed back to Hun- 



V\ 



84 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

gary, the understanding being that each partner in the 
dual monarchy was to look after its own " hordes." The 
Croats obtained a certain degree of autonomy in 1868, 
after a severe struggle, but the Servians and Roumanians 
of Hungary lost their national identity, though they could 
not lose their race feeling, and have been ever since sub- 
jected to a steady process of Magyarisation. 

The Czechs protested strongly against the Ausgleich, 
in which they had no part. They were not consulted, nor 
called to the Diets, but were merely invited to send depu- 
ties to a Reichsrath in Vienna. The Czechs of Bohemia 
and Moravia and the Slovenes of Carniola refused to 
attend, but the Poles, who had no " historic rights " but 
wanted command over the Ruthenians, struck a bargain 
with Beust, who wanted their votes. They saw that their 
countrymen in both Russia and Prussia were far from 
happy, and they were contented to secure a special Gali- 
cian minister, a separate education board, and the use 
of Polish in secondary schools, law courts, and public 
offices. 

The discontent of the Czechs at last led to a revolt, 
and in 1868-69 Prague was in a state of siege. Beust en- 
deavoured to placate them with promises of reform and 
liberal measures, which he was not able to carry into 
effect. If his law of 1867 had been honestly carried 
through it would have secured much for which the Czechs 
contended — the rights of all citizens before the law, the 
inviolability of the domicile, the right of association, free- 
dom of conscience, equality of races, inviolability of na- 
tionality and language, and equality of the latter in 



THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 85 

administration, schools, and public life. These provisions, 
however, were not loyally observed. 

When the Liberal constitution of 1867 was promulgated 
it still preserved the old electoral system, for the abstract 
right of suffrage was not yet recognised and was regarded, 
even by some Liberals, as revolutionary. There were 
now four classes of electors — great landowners, chambers 
of commerce, cities, and rural districts. Each voted sep- 
arately and elected its own deputies, and the vote was 
most unevenly distributed, the principle of " one vote 
one value " being entirely disallowed, as, for instance, in 
the chambers of commerce, where the number of voters 
was extremely small in relation to the representation. 
This unequal system ensured a German majority, even in 
the Slav countries, as the larger number of the great land- 
owners, merchants, and manufacturers were either Ger 
man or Germanised, and the native population was strong 
only in rural districts. The German majorities in the 
local diets ensured a German majority in the Reichsrath, 
and this continued even in Bohemia until, in 1879, the 
Czechs were strong enough to get a majority in the elec- 
tion. The language question, which could not be simply 
settled by the declaration of equal rights made in 1867, 
continued to afford a field of conflict in which the princi- 
pal points of attack were the mixed primary schools, sec- 
ondary and higher education, and administrative posts. 
By slow but sure degrees the tide has been turned against 
the German language, and thanks to the national patriot- ^ 
ism of the Czechs, their tongue has gained ground 
steadily. 



■j/ 



V 



/ 



86 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

The other great political question concerned the rights 
of the Catholic church, and in this matter race division 
was, and is, less marked. In 1868 German liberalism 
abrogated the concordat and inaugurated a new period of 
liberty. Education was freed from the Church, marriage 
made civil, press laws were relaxed. At the same time the 
Prussian military organisation was introduced. 

From 1866 to 1870 there had been passages of arms 
between Austria and Prussia regarding the south German 
states, followed by close friendship of the former with 
France, and meetings between the two emperors (Francis 
and Napoleon) at Salzsburg and Paris, in 1867 and 1869. 
How far Beust's policy was dictated by a desire for re- 
venge is doubtful, but there can be no question that the 
hope of replacing Prussia by Austria in the German hege- 
mony largely dictated his movements, and a plan was 
negotiated by which Austria, France, and Italy were to 
combine. In 1870 a formal alliance with France was actu- 
ally discussed, but the project fell through, and Bismarck, 
being perfectly aware of the alliance which was brewing, 
determined on war before Austria should be in a position 
to give substantial aid to France. The rapidity of the war 
and the complete success of Prussia had the desired effect 
of paralysing Austria. Beust was obliged to retire in 1 87 1, 
and Count Andrassy became prime minister. Mean- 
while the war with France had drawn all the German 
states together, and in the coronation of a Hohenzollern 
king as German Emperor at Versailles vanished the last 
hope of the Habsburgs of regaining their position in Ger- 
many. Germany, at the same time, disclaimed all inten- 



THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 87 

tion of dismembering Austria, and relations became closer 
and closer until, in 1872, Francis Joseph visited Berlin 
and St. Petersburg, and the three empires were for six years 
united in bonds of peace and friendship. 

The Franco-German war roused very mixed feelings 
among the varied subjects of Austria. The Germans ex- 
ulted in German victories over the quondam friend of their 
emperor, and many Hungarians rejoiced because they be- 
lieved that Germany Victrix would absorb the German 
provinces of Austria and leave the Magyars entirely free 
to realise their ambitions, including the domination of 
those Slav countries which Hungary in her palmiest days 
had conquered. 

Conciliation being necessary Hohenwart was called in, 
as he was believed to be popular because he had favoured 
a federalist policy. He at once attempted to mollify the 
Czechs, and so offended the Germans of Bohemia, and 
even those outside the Empire, and the expression was 
heard, " Are the victors of Sedan to become the helots 
of the Czechs?" Hohenwart, however, persevered, and 
the Emperor at length consented to acknowledge the 
" rights of the kingdom of Bohemia " and to be crowned 
at Prague, which had not seen this ceremony since the time 
of Leopold II. in 1791. The opposition to these measures, 
which was made by both German and Magyar sections 
of the population, proved too strong, and the Emperor 
evaded his engagements and replaced Hohenwart, at the 
same time that Beust was succeeded by Andrassy. The 
Slavs were now persecuted with fresh vigour. The press 
was put down, the Imperial Manifesto promising rights 



88 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

was destroyed by the police, Bohemian and other local 
assemblies were dissolved, and a new Reichsrath was sum- 
moned at which no federalists appeared. 

Amid these trials the Czech national feeling rose tri- 
umphant and could not, eventually, be denied. Ten years 
after the Franco-German war, Bohemia, with the aid of 
Count Taaffe, who wished to conciliate her, was once 
more given equality of language in the schools, adminis- 
tration, and courts. A national university and a national 
theatre were founded at Prague, the latter by national 
subscription and by the aid of peasants, who, too poor 
to give money, carted the material and contributed 
their labour. We must, however, describe the Czech re- 
vival at more length in a subsequent chapter. 

With regard to the Eastern question, Austria's attitude 
throughout the whole of the nineteenth century was one 
of uncertainty. She was opposed to the progress of Rus- 
sia, but her position as a Christian state made it difficult 
for her to stand aside when her fellow Christians were 
trying to throw off the yoke of Turkey. Her attitude 
toward the Balkan states, therefore, was not calculated to 
win their confidence. 

The occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which 
was sanctioned by the Treaty of Berlin (1878) was par- 
ticularly crushing to the patriotic hopes of Servia and 
Montenegro, since it successfully divided them, and in 
Novibazar (the district between the two countries) it 
placed Austria garrisons within Turkish territory at a 
most important strategic point. Montenegro was shut 
off from the coveted seaport Cattaro, which had been in 



The Dual Monarchy 
19 oe 



«• 




[Longitude West from Greenwich 



Austria [ I _T 




Austria 1 ) Kingdom oi Mungrarx 1 i 1 i I Dual iVlorLarclxy', Llack line. 

German. Rmpire, red line. 



THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 89 

the hand of Austria since 18 14. This occupation of terri- 
tory on their southern border was not favourably viewed 
by Hungary, who feared Austrianising influences on the 
Serbo-Croats and was, moreover, opposed to any coercion 
of Turkey, with whom, since the days of Mohacs, she 
had frequently made alliances and had rapprochements. 
The kinship between Magyar and Turk is, in fact, more 
than once apparent in friendly relations between the two 
peoples, who at other times were in deadly conflict. As 
a return for abstention in this matter of the Turkish 
provinces, Hungary obtained a much freer hand in her 
policy of Magyarisation and also concessions as to her 
language and national rights. The advantage gained by 
Austria in the occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina was more 
doubtful. Austria-Hungary was plunged into an expen- 
sive war with the Mohammedan inhabitants, and it is cer- 
tain that Bismarck's chief reason for the concession was to 
turn the energies of Austria eastward and to keep her and 
Russia embroiled in the Balkan states. 

In 1879 Bismarck and Andrassy (the latter always 
amenable to influence from Berlin) concluded an alliance 
for action in case of an attack on Austria-Hungary by 
Russia, or on Germany by France and Russia. This was 
strengthened in 1883 by the inclusion of Italy, who had 
become nervous owing to French activity in the Mediter- 
ranean. This " Triple Alliance " has never been dissolved, 
although it has gone through various vicissitudes and 
modifications. After 1880 better relations were estab- 
lished between Austria and Russia, although in 1885 the 
Bulgarian question brought the two powers into active 



go THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

opposition. In 1886-7 Russian troops were actually 
massed on the frontier, but the danger was averted by the 
renewal of the Triple Alliance and by German intervention. 
The Habsburg dynasty is no longer engaged in foreign 
intrigues, except in the Balkan States and in European 
Turkey, where they struggle continually to maintain their 
influence against that of Russia. Italy, Germany, and the 
Netherlands are definitely lost to them, but they remain at 
the head of a powerful state, and their ancient House, the 
oldest in Europe, may yet continue to play a prominent 
part in world affairs. The present crisis in its history 
seems a grave one, but this brief resume will show that 
they have passed through even darker periods. Whether 
the proverbial luck which has attended the Habsburgs in 
political life will continue to come to their rescue it is im- 
possible to say, but it seems likely that the descendants of 
Francis Joseph must develop more statesmanship than 
most of his ancestors possessed, if they are to retain their 
position under modern conditions. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE AUSTRIANS 

An Austrian lady once told the writer (with some indig- 
nation at the ignorance displayed) that an Englishman 
had asked her, "What was her native tongue?" Prob- 
ably quite a number of otherwise well-informed people 
would find it difficult to explain the existence, in Austria, 
of a German-speaking people who are yet distinct, not only 
historically but even to a certain extent racially, from 
the other Teutonic states of Europe. 

The fusion of the petty German states into a great 
German empire, and the influence of the dominating fac- 
tor of Prussian militarism, have obliterated, so far as 
appearances are concerned, the boundaries of the various 
kingdoms and principalities. Many of these — for in- 
stance, Brandenburg, the cradle of the Hohenzollerns — 
were originally Slav in population, but the civilisation 
which gradually overspread them, and the spirit guiding 
their destinies, were Teutonic, and as the modern German 
empire they are welded together on a firm national basis, 
despite their long history of separate political existence. 
It is obvious that Austria, which after 1866 was entirely 
shut out from this family party, must have been differen- 
tiated from the rest of the Teutonic empire by some 
special circumstance. This circumstance, as has been shewn 
in the historical sketch, was the connection with the 

91 



92 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

House of Habsburg, which was never content to be a 
merely Teutonic power and drew its inspiration from 
Spain and Italy rather than German sources. Austria, as 
we have seen, began its career as the Ost-mark of the 
Frankish empire. It was an outpost against the pagan 
and savage hordes outside the pale of Teutonic and 
Catholic Europe. As a duchy it was given to a Teutonic 
family, the Babenbergs, who were succeeded by the Habs- 
burgs, and by the energy and capacity of the latter family 
it became the centre of a collection of hereditary posses- 
sions as large as many kingdoms. These remain to-day 
under the Habsburg dynasty, and, to use an incorrect ter- 
minology, form the " Empire " of Austria. The family 
lands consist of no fewer than seventeen parts or provinces, 
and historically these provinces are distinct, and have a 
certain individuality. 1 The Austrian emperor, therefore, 
bears the title of each province separately. He is Duke of 
Styria, Count of the Tyrol, etc., his hereditary titles num- 
bering seventeen. 

The racial .basis of the Habsburg realm was Slav, the 
peasantry of the duchies being originally of that race, 
while in Bohemia, Moravia, and Galicia we have old 
Slav kingdoms which still retain their nationality. Latin 

1 Kingdoms Carinthia 

Bohemia, Galicia and Dalmatia Carniola 

Margra<viates Silesia 

Moravia and Istria Bukowina 

Arch-Duchies "Land" Simply 

Upper Austria Vorarlberg 

Lower Austria Counties, raised to Principalities 

Duchies Gorz-Gradiska and Tyrol 

Salzburg Special Crown Land 

Styria Trieste and District 



THEAUSTRIANS 93 

influence in that portion of the Habsburg domains which 
is nearest to Italy, and in the coast lands, has somewhat 
obscured the fact that they were the scenes of an early 
Slav civilisation, but it is noticeable that the long domina- 
tion of a (nominally) German ruler has been quite ineffect- 
ual in colouring the lives of the people or in eliminating 
their very un-German proclivities. The southern charac- 
teristics of these Austrian subjects are clearly marked. 
Nevertheless, the fact that the court, the centre of social 
and political life, was more or less German was bound to 
influence the people of the duchies and of Bohemia. The 
language of administration, as well as of society, was and 
is German; not the precise Hanoverian or the harsh Prus- 
sian, but the soft yet guttural German of the south, the 
Bavarian patois with little variation, and spoken by prince 
and peasant alike. Naturally the written language, and 
that spoken in pulpit or theatre, is more classical, but the 
Vienna jargon, as it is called, is the tongue of common 
usage, and it is strange to hear this dialect even on the lips 
of a proud and cultured aristocracy. 

Naturally the ascendency of a German family brought 
to their court and their lands numbers of their country- 
men, many of whom formed settlements and retained their 
nationality. In modern times industrial development has 
also attracted Germans who remain German. The growth 
of the " Austrian " tradition is, in reality, mainly to be 
traced in the development of the aristocracy, and they in 
their turn are grouped round the central factor in all Aus- 
trian history — the House of Habsburg. It must not be 
imagined that this aristocracy was recruited entirely from 



94 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Germany. As the House increased in power, and at length 
achieved the hereditary position of head of the Teutonic 
states, it required for the Imperial army a large number 
of mercenary troops. These came from every country of 
Europe and every grade of society, and many of the 
officers were rewarded with grants of land and founded 
noble families. After the time of Maximilian the Habs- 
burgs ceased to regard themselves as German monarchs. 
Their courts were filled with Spanish, Netherlandish, and 
Italian nobles, and not one German prince appeared in the 
train of Charles V. when he was crowned at Rome. Vienna 
was not the seat of the Imperial court till after the Thirty 
Years' War (seventeenth century), but it then took a 
foremost place in Europe. To the brilliant court thronged 
all the distinguished men of the Middle Ages, who, with 
their followers, often lived for a considerable time in the 
palaces of old Vienna. Besides this the Emperor was 
recognised as the champion of the Roman Catholic Church 
against the Reformed religion, German liberalism, and the 
first mutterings of democracy, so that his court became a 
refuge to those who were staunch to the old traditions. At 
the opening of the Thirty Years' War a great influx of 
French took place, and after the flight of James II., Eng- 
lish and Irish refugees flocked to Austria, while a motley 
crowd of Spaniards, Luxembourgers, Belgians, and Dutch 
flocked to the court of the Emperor. 2 Italian immigration 

2 Some writers claim that the most eminent names in Austrian history 
are foreign. Taafe, Plunket, De Lacy, D'Argenteau, de Bucquoi, de 
Hoyos, Prince Eugene of Savoy, Montecuculi, and many other foreign 
names have been distinguished. Kaunitz was of Slavic origin, Beust was 
a Saxon, and Metternich a Rhinelander. 



THE AUSTRIANS 95 

and Italian influence have been, perhaps, the decisive fac- 
tors in differentiating Austria from other German-speaking 
countries. This influence and immigration have been con- 
tinuous from quite early periods, for the ambition of the 
Habsburgs to be something more than German monarchs 
drew their gaze beyond the Alps from the outset of their 
history. The universities of Pisa and Padua, rather than 
those of Germany, were the sources of inspiration, and, 
although German was eventually recognised as the Kultur 
Sprache of the Austrians, this is the result of historical 
rather than intellectual affinity. The great intellectual and 
political movements of mediaeval and modern Germany 
were from the first the objects of distrust to the Habs- 
burgs, and Austria was, by the rigid repression of her 
rulers, preserved from this great revolutionay wave. If 
it is gradually encroaching now, if German liberalism is 
an increasingly powerful factor and socialism a growing 
menace, it is because in modern Europe it is no longer pos- 
sible to secure isolation. The supreme influence of the 
Jesuits in Austrian politics and social life, which lasted for 
two centuries, was a predominant factor in the evolution, 
not only of that country, but of all those lands connected 
with it. The Jesuit tradition was totally opposed to the 
development of freedom of thought or action. Even after 
its overthrow in 1772 the Jesuit policy was partially re- 
vived by Metternich, who, like the Habsburg rulers until 
the time of Joseph II., regarded the domination of the 
Church in matters spiritual and intellectual as a bulwark of 
the dynasty. 

The tradition of conservatism is still preserved in that 



9 6 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

strange and interesting society known as the Austrian 
aristocracy — the only genuine survival of the caste system 
in Europe. Here is your true Austrian, no German at all, 
for, though his name and language may be German, he 
probably has the blood of half a dozen nationalities in 
his veins, and the accumulated weight of centuries of the 
tradition of authority, undisturbed by reformations or rev- 
olutions, at his back. Undoubtedly the association with the 
Spanish grandees, brought very close by marriage during 
the period of political connection, has much to do with the 
pride of the Austrian aristocracy, but, be that as it may, 
the fact remains that this society is to-day the only. one 
in which gold is not a passport, against whose doors the 
parvenu heiress has knocked in vain. 

In writing of so exclusive a society it is difficult to 
avoid pitfalls, since one's observation must usually be 
from outside. Few writers, either native or foreign, are 
really qualified by acquaintance to describe the vie intime 
of these circles, and for that reason considerable discre- 
tion is necessary. On one point, however, all are agreed. 
The Austrian aristocracy is distinguished from the upper 
circles of more democratic countries by the simplicity of 
its life and manners. There is neither ostentation nor 
luxuriousness in the habits of these proud people. They 
do not entertain sumptuously, and the big social functions 
of aristocratic Vienna are few and far between. Private 
entertaining, confined to the circle of intimate friends and 
relations, is also rare and simple compared with that in 
England or America, and informal " dropping in " is not 
customary. Fart of every year is passed on the country 



THE AUSTRIANS 97 

estates, where existence is quiet and primitive, judged by 
the standards of country-house life in English-speaking 
communities. There is not the same amount of move- 
ment and change, for Austrians travel very little. Sport 
is popular, and the young Austrian noble spends months 
every year in following it under strenuous and sometimes 
dangerous conditions. He is apt to sneer at the idea of 
sport which is not complete without a battue and hot 
luncheon as part of the day's entertainment. It is for- 
tunate that this open-air life retains its attractions for the 
Austrian nobility, for it must be confessed that without 
it their life would be an enervating one, and even with 
it must frequently be aimless. 

English noblemen, however high their rank and long 
their pedigree, have frequently been associated with in- 
dustrial affairs, often as owners of mines and as manufac- 
turers. Their ranks have, moreover, been constantly re- 
cruited by new creations from the industrial and com- 
mercial world, and we are accustomed now to a bridging 
of the social gulf between the landowner and the man of 
commerce which is little known in Austria. There the 
aristocracy are essentially landowners, and though a few 
of the highest families have actually descended into the 
arena of trade, 3 the prejudice against it still remains. As 
landlords they have, in modern times, become anxious to 
do their duty. They are not, as a rule, absentees and 
they are good-natured, but the immense size of many of 

3 The names of Harrach (which actually appears over Bohemian glass- 
ware shops in Prague and Vienna), Prince Schwartzenberg (who has 
ceramic factories), and Count Nostitz (who owns valuable iron works), 
are among those that at once occur to one. 



98 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

the estates makes it impossible for them to give personal 
attention to matters. The Schwarzenbergs, for instance, 
own immense areas in Bohemia, and their estates are valued 
at fifteen millions sterling. It is not to be wondered at that 
the agent is the real arbiter of destiny, and that the factors 
and stewards rob their masters as well as the poor 
peasantry. 

Apart from his duty as landlord, and to a limited extent 
the field of high politics, the only career open to the 
Austrian noble is that of the army. If he wishes to follow 
this profession (after his period of enforced service is 
over) he must work hard and cannot have much time for 
loafing. Failing this, however, he will probably spend 
far too much of his time in the cafes which abound in 
Vienna and which waste the time of thousands of the 
people every day. His intellectual resources are limited, 
as is natural after centuries of ultramontanism and the in- 
evitable result of excluding from his society all but those 
of the same point of view as himself. This has led to the 
growth of mental apathy and indifference. No stranger, 
however distinguished, is welcomed inside the exclusive 
circle, and even foreigners of the diplomatic service see 
little more than the ceremonial side of its life. The " so- 
ciety of cousins," as it is called, declares that it is " so 
tiresome " to have to entertain strangers, and thus in the 
restricted circle, with the same jokes, the same catchwords, 
the same gossip, and the same narrow outlook, life flows 
on in well-worn channels, only varied by erotic outbreaks, 
inevitable in so old and artificial a society. Politics, litera- 
ture, art, and science are little mentioned in conversa- 




TYROLEAN VILLAGE STREET 




TYROLEAN FARM 



THEAUSTRIANS 99 

tion, and, though fond of music, few attain proficiency as 
executants. Dancing is the great amusement, and is en- 
joyed with passionate zeal. Marriage outside the pre- 
scribed circle is always a mesalliance, but it is notorious 
that it is not infrequent even in the highest circles. In 
such cases it is, however, a marriage of inclination or 
affection. The archduke who espouses a pretty actress 
or dancer does so for her beaux yeux, and his faux pas 
is less objectionable in the eyes of society than if he had 
married into the family of some parvenu for money. 

Austrian noble ladies are said to be in many respects 
the superiors of their husbands in character — a very natu- 
ral state of affairs in a society where there is so little scope 
for virility. As wives and mothers they are devoted, al- 
though handicapped at every turn by the restrictions of 
society. Young girls are often said to be fast, a reputation 
they probably owe to the natural vivacity of the Austrian 
compared to the German. They are certainly unaffected, 
merry, and delightful, though strictly brought up. The 
toilettes are notable for simplicity and elegance, in strik- 
ing contrast to the untidy, overdressed fussiness which has 
characterised English and American women for some 
time past. Only the fullest evening costumes are per- 
mitted elaboration, and the style of these is Parisian, while 
the day gowns are altered from Paris models and have 
a distinctive apearance, tailoring and fit being peculiarly 
good. The reputation of Austrian women for beauty is 
probably more due to their good taste in dress, which is 
noticeable in all classes, than to regular features or col- 
ouring. Indeed the amount of coffee consumed and the 

Lore, 



ioo THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

lack of exercise incline them early to embonpoint. The 
Viennese pride themselves on their small feet, and are, as 
a rule, admirably and at the same time prettily shod, an- 
other contrast to their English and American sisters. 

At the far-back feudal period when Austrian society 
had its origin there were in Europe only two classes to 
be considered, the noble and non-noble. The rise of the 
German city, with its wealthy and cultured burgher class, 
was one of the predominant features of the Middle Ages, 
and complicated the social system, creating a middle class. 
In most European countries this class has been par- 
tially absorbed into the aristocracy, but in Austria it is 
still distinct. The court circle or aristocracy is made up 
of; (first) the reigning family, with archdukes and arch- 
duchesses (for every member of the family bears the 
title) ; (second) the Liechtensteins— still a reigning fam- 
ily in their tiny territory, which is now incorporated in the 
Austrian Empire; (third) Austrian princes created after 
1806, Mediatised counts, and counts of the Holy Roman 
Empire (the latter not necessarily territorial lords) ; and 
(lastly) one or two barons, this title being reserved for 
high finance and especially associated with Jewish bank- 
ers, of whom only a select few, like the Rothschilds, 
are admitted to " Society." 

The second rank — not " Society " with a big S — is the 
upper middle class, in which are included the higher mem- 
bers of the civil service, professions, heads of great com- 
mercial undertakings, savants, and distinguished follow- 
ers of art in all its branches. The lower middle class 
comprises the minor civil servants, tradespeople, and 



THEAUSTRIANS 101 

craftsmen of various kinds, and there is an industrial and 
agricultural proletariat. The upper middle class is also 
divided into a Jewish and a Christian section, the former 
including a large proportion of professional men, particu- 
larly doctors, lawyers, and journalists. Unlike the Chris- 
tian section, which is much split into cliques, this Jewish 
community is very solid and mutually helpful. As men- 
tioned elsewhere anti-Jewish feeling is intensely strong. 

The Austrian of all ranks, and especially the Viennese, 
is bright and pleasure-loving. The influence of the stiff 
and gloomy Spanish grandees was modified after the time 
of Maria Theresa by the French manners imported by 
Francis of Lorraine, and despite the elaborate etiquette 
still obtaining there is gaiety in court circles, while the 
people outside society are notoriously fond of amusement. 
Parks provide cheap entertainment in the form of concerts, 
and the environs have spots like the Kahlenberg or Wiener- 
wald, where whole families adjourn for the day to pass the 
time in dancing, listening to the music, and drinking beer. 
Socially Vienna is not so brilliant as it was fifty years ago, 
before the revival of the nationalist movements in Hun- 
gary and Bohemia led to the withdrawal of the Magyar 
and Czech nobles and induced them to make social centres 
of Budapest and Prague. Austrian families themselves, 
moreover, unable to afford the expenses of Vienna, live 
more and more (even all the year round) on their estates. 

Nevertheless, Austrians are proud of their capital, 
one of the finest cities in Europe despite two disadvantages 
— the absence of a fine river and the flatness of the im- 
mediate surrounding country. Unlike any other modern 



102 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

city, Vienna's royal residence and aristocratic quarter is 
at its centre. After 1857 the fortifications of Vienna were 
demolished and a broad street made upon them, which, 
in spite of some monstrosities, is still architecturally one 
of the finest in Europe. This street runs round the old 
inner city and is known as the Ringstrasse. Within this 
are still to be found bits of old Vienna, but on the whole 
the general impression is that of a modern city, Italian 
rather than German in character, and possessing many 
fine, albeit rather ornate, buildings. Much of the most 
noticeable building in Vienna is in the style of the Italian 
renaissance, but the most characteristic are of the later 
baroque period. Modern architects have evolved a num- 
ber of variations on the baroque, which are quaint and 
voyante rather than elegant or stately. But the general 
effect is bright, and helps to emphasise the fact that 
Vienna is not a German town. 

In the cafes a cosmopolitan crowd assembles — often 
Hungarian, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Italians — and here is 
the centre not only of social but of commercial life. To 
illustrate the mixture of races in the Austrian capital it 
has been said that a German may have a Galician (Pol- 
ish) wife, a Bohemian (Czech) cook, a Dalmatian 
(Italian) nurse, a Slav barber, a Magyar coachman, a 
French tutor, and an English governess! 

The artistic side of Viennese life is somewhat disap- 
pointing. Once the capital of the Habsburgs was the 
home of the first musicians of the day. Haydn, Mozart, 
Beethoven, Schubert — the Immortals — have moved in 
its salons and received encouragement — what an irony! — 



THEAUSTRIANS 103 

from the smiles of its aristocracy. 4 To-day the followers 
of Strauss seem to monopolise the composing powers, but 
in execution there is still a high standard, both in orches- 
tral music and in singing. The Conservatoire of Music 
is famous, and it is apparently not the encouragement but 
the genius which is at present in abeyance. The school 
of painting is a modern one, and has no special European 
reputation, being far below that of Munich. At the pres- 
ent time the so-called " Secession " school is all-pervading, 
and fills Vienna with hideosities not only on canvas but 
in iron, wood, and stone. The cult of the bizarre is the 
dominating note of this " school," and the most aspiring 
of the well-to-do Viennese middle class decorate their en- 
tire houses, and even their persons, in " Secession " style, 
with results not always happy. It is impossible not to see 
something decadent in this phase of art, as in the lack of 
originality in the musical world. It is characteristic of 
some of the Secession work that it disdains the finished 
workmanship of classic models, as well as their graceful 
and chaste outlines, but the most decadent features are a 
certain restlessness and angularity, a straining after effect, 
a conventional barbaricism, and a lack of colour-sense as 
well as of true originality. The Secession wave has passed 
over German as well as Austrian art, but it is more notice- 
ably unpleasant in Vienna because that city has so long 

4 " Beethoven, in his lifetime, was little appreciated in Vienna, and the 
poverty to which he was left in the Imperial capital was relieved by the 
London Philharmonic Society." "The Court of Austria." Vehse. The 
same author says that Mozart was so disgusted by the preference of the 
Viennese for the lighter of his operas and their rejection (at first) of 
Don Juan, that he exclaimed: "The Bohemians will understand me !" 



104 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

been noted for " artistic " productions, and because its 
manufactures go forth with the stamp " Viennese " to 
beautify (or uglify) so many thousand homes. If Vienna 
could have a period like that of Sheraton and Adams in 
England much of the ugliness of modern German life 
might be modified ! 

Theatres, like music, are subsidised. The Imperial 
opera house is fine, and is well patronised, but the middle 
class is the great supporter of the drama. There is no 
native school of drama; translations of foreign plays are 
as popular in Vienna as they are in London, and come 
chiefly from the same source — the French. The most 
characteristic feature of the Viennese stage is the opera- 
bouffe, and many queens of the stage have won ephemeral 
distinction, and some have made good marriages. 

A curious feature of life is the cessation of all activity in 
the streets at about 10.30 p. m. The theatre and opera 
are over early, and after a light refreshment the people go 
home. The cafes remain open, but the hours kept are 
very early compared with Paris or Berlin. Perhaps this 
custom is a relic of earlier days, when everyone was sub- 
ject to the closest police supervision. Even now the police 
insist that every house or hotel in the city should employ 
a special night porter, who (by custom) must be fee'd 
every time he opens the door. These men are in the em- 
ploy of the police, and act as information agents. 

We have said already that the intellectual life of the 
aristocracy is marked by a narrow range of sympathy and 
mental stagnation. In the middle class the brightest in- 
tellects and highest culture are to be found in the Jewish 



THEAUSTRIANS 105 

circles, from which the professions and the press are 
very largely recruited. Vienna has an ancient university, 
founded in 1365, and some of its faculties have been 
famous, particularly that of medicine, but on the whole 
the modern Austrians owe less to their universities than 
the Germans. Under the influence of ultramontanism 
for so many centuries the University of Vienna was 
not carried forward in the great intellectual awakening 
which followed the Reformation. It was only after the 
abrogation of the concordat, in 1868, that education was 
finally made the business of the State and released from 
religious control, and the subsequent organisation, though 
closely following the German system, has not as yet the 
progressive features characteristic of its model. There 
are three divisions of schools, elementary, middle, and high, 
the last including universities, and in addition there are 
numerous and varied scientific, professional, or technical 
schools. Attendance at elementary schools is compulsory, 
and the average attendance is good, reaching to nearly 100 
per cent, in Upper Austria and Salzsburg, while in Galicia 
and Bukowina it is very low indeed. There do not ap- 
pear to be in Vienna (where a large industrial population 
exists) any of those modern arrangements for the protec- 
tion of the school child which are carried to such a pitch of 
perfection in Berlin. In this respect the Viennese are be- 
hind England in some of its better-equipped centres. The 
children of poor districts come to school badly clothed and 
fed, and beyond a charitable organisation for providing 
penny dinners in the winter there seems to be no attempt to 
remedy this. The appearance of these children indicates the 



lob THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

existence of great poverty in some of the industrial quar- 
ters, and another fact indicative of unfavourable condi- 
tions of life among the poor is the very high rate of infant 
mortality, which is higher, for the whole of Austria, than 
that of any other country except Russia, though not so high 
as that in selected areas of Great Britain. It may be 
mentioned that in Austria, as in Germany, the school age 
begins at six, and that the children are therefore spared 
the withering influences of infant schools. Unfortunately 
the excellent system of medical inspection of school chil- 
dren has not been copied from Germany as yet, and in 
the matter of school buildings and appliances Vienna is 
behind Budapest. 

The middle schools are of two classes: the Gymnasia, 
or classical schools, which prepare for the universities, 
and the Realschulen, or modern schools, preparing chiefly 
for the technical schools. A third class, the Realgym- 
nasia, consists of classical schools with a modern side, 
preparing chiefly for the upper classes of the other two. 
The great majority of these are maintained by the State, 
but there are a few under the province or municipality 
and seventeen kept by bishops and ecclesiastical orders. 
It is, perhaps, not thoroughly understood in England that 
this system of State schools entirely does away with the 
private or semi-private institutions we call public schools. 
Everyone, from highest to lowest, goes through the State 
schools, although there is not necessarily that mingling 
of the social classes which at first sight seems inevitable. 
There are, of course, private schools, but these must 
comply with government regulations, and their pupils have 





— -M«fc«KEV-:" .v^l" 




^f.".i-.-t 




B^ 


1 i 

1 


1 



TYPICAL FARMHOUSE, TYROL 




FEAST OF THE VIRGIN, TYROL 



THE AUSTRIAN S 107 

to submit to State examinations. In the case of profes- 
sional or civil service examinations the privately educated 
boy is purposely placed at a disadvantage, and the ex- 
pense is vastly increased. The universities, of which 
there are eight in Austria, with an average attendance of 
about seventeen thousand, are not luxuries or extras in 
the educational scheme, like the English or American 
universities, but are essential parts of a liberal education; 
and, moreover, there are scholarships and bursaries to 
enable the poor scholar to enjoy all the educational ad- 
vantages of the country. The professional or technical 
training schools are partly private, partly public, and in 
the latter case they are not maintained, but subsidised, by 
the State. In Bohemia this branch of education has been 
most successfully developed, as will be described else- 
where. For the rest, it is difficult to generalise about this, 
or indeed about any other department of education in 
Austria, because the conditions vary so enormously in 
the different provinces. 

It has been said, with great truth, that within the Habs- 
burg domains one can study, almost side by side, every 
stage of civilisation, from the almost primitive to the / 
highest degree of refinement and culture. For this reason 
statistics and information of a general character are apt 
to be misleading. Thus, while we read that in 1900 out 
of twenty-six millions nine and a half could neither read 
nor write, and another 800,000 could not write, we find 
at the same time that in Upper Austria the school at- 
tendance is nearly 100 per cent. It is obvious that the 
greatest unevenness must exist in the life-conditions of 



108 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

the subjects of the Habsburgs, and this is confirmed by 
the most casual observation. It is a blot on Austrian ad- 
ministration that a large proportion of the people it 
governs remains at an extremely low grade of civilisation, 
but at the same time it must be remembered that Galicia, 
where poverty and ignorance are, perhaps, greatest, has 
very complete autonomy and its own educational author- 
ities and language. So much sympathy has been evoked 
by the subjection of the Slav peoples to foreign and auto- 
cratic rulers that too little study has been devoted to 
another side of the question. How far Slav peoples are 
capable of progress and self-development it is impossible 
to say. The Czechs cannot be taken as an instance, for, 
despite the national character of their renaissance, it has 
owed a good deal to the cultural influence of Germany 
throughout long centuries. But the lack of political in- 
stinct, of the power of organisation and of stability, is an 
omission from the " make up " of the Slav which cannot 
fail to strike any student of history. The history of 
Poland is perhaps the most striking illustration, and in 
blaming the Austrian administration for the backward 
condition of its Polish provinces we may perhaps remem- 
ber that the gods help those that help themselves. The 
short-sighted and selfish attitude of the Polish nobility 
which was the ruin of their country in the days of Poland's 
prosperity continues to be the curse of Galicia, and the 
peasantry, mostly Ruthenians, are perhaps not to blame 
if they have sunk, with the hopeless fatalism of the Rus- 
sian Slav, into the pit of ignorance and poverty. 

Socialism began in Austria early in the seventies, and 



THE AUSTRIANS 109 

was at first agrarian in character. It was largely pro- 
voked by the aggressions of a class of capitalists who were 
gradually becoming large landowners. The economic 
crisis of this period gave opportunities to these capitalists, 
almost invariably Jewish, of buying out small owners, and 
the situation thus created was viewed with grave distrust 
by the peasantry. The movement soon spread to the in- 
dustrial population, and after 1879 anarchical doctrines 
began to be preached, while in the early eighties there 
were serious riots, strikes, and assassinations, ending in 
martial law and special measures of repression. The 
Jews, alarmed by the feeling displayed, used their influ- 
ence with the press (which they controlled) to begin a 
campaign against Socialism in every form, demanding its 
suppression and, if possible, extermination. The conse- 
quence was to identify the Socialist movement with a 
violent wave of anti-Semitism, and no effort of the 
Government has been able to resist this popular current. 
In 1882 a fresh phase was introduced by the action of 
the Clericals and a few conservatives, who, feeling that 
their influence was waning, began what is called the Chris- 
tian Socialist movement, in which the economic revolt 
against capital is combined with a religious attack on 
the Jews. Austria, they contended, was in the hands of 
a close ring of political financiers, who used the constitu- 
tion (under which the working classes were unrepre- 
sented) to exploit labour, while alienating the people from 
Christianity in " godless schools." A fresh political party, 
that of democratic clericalism, was founded, and a practi- 
cal result of the influence brought to bear was the 



no THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

amelioration of conditions of life and labour, such as fac- 
tory and mine inspection, the regulation of hours of 
labour, and other kindred measures. In 1887-8 compul- 
sory insurance against sickness and accidents on the Ger- 
man pattern was introduced. Other industrial legislation 
was more political than social in its intention, as, for 
instance, the laws for the restoration of trade guilds. 
Since that time the Socialist party has grown steadily, and 
the first plank in its platform is universal suffrage, which 
was first asked for so long ago as 1869. 

The line taken by the Jews, as the only way of stemming 
a rising tide which threatens their interests, was to intro- 
duce as a destructive agency the International Socialist 
propaganda. This is in fact a form of socialism to which 
the Jew can most easily subscribe, but to the Austrian and 
Bohemian it is a stumbling-block, because of the distinc- 
tively national and even provincial character of their aims. 
The racial divisions and national jealousies among the 
subjects of the Habsburgs have in fact prevented the 
organisation of a really strong Socialist party, and it will 
be difficult to overcome these disabilities. 

Meanwhile the Government has so far responded to 
the Zeitgeist as to begin a career of State Socialism. It 
began with the taking over of the railway system, but has 
extended its operations in various directions, with a view 
to the protection of the smaller industries, which were 
dying a natural death. The department for the " Promo- 
tion of Trade " costs some thirty thousand pounds an- 
nually, and its most useful function is in educating 
mechanics. Much of the work attempted by the Govern- 



THE AUSTRIANS m 

ment for protection of the working classes has, however, 
been nugatory. The bases of calculations for old-age 
pensions and insurance have proved faulty, and the fac- 
tory acts and other laws as to sweating or other abuses 
are successfully evaded for lack of a sufficient authority 
to enforce them under the penal code. 

Municipal Socialism has not advanced in Austria to 
the extent with which we are familiar nearer home. The 
present mayor of Vienna, Dr. Lueger, is a notorious Chris- 
tian Socialist, whose energies are divided between the 
anti-Semitic campaign and the protection of the small 
trader {kleiner Mann) against Jewish monopoly. An 
amusing story illustrates at once the extent to which this 
movement is carried, till it becomes almost ridiculous, 
and also the humour of the Viennese tradesman. A chem- 
ist had been asked several times by a customer for doses 
of poison, and at last inquired what they were for. On 
being told " for the destruction of rats and other ver- 
min," he ejaculated: " What! for vermin! Why, I shall 
be prosecuted for taking away the business of the kleiner 
Mann, who deals only in vermin poisoning! " 



CHAPTER VII 



HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS 



The Magyars, as said already, occupy a unique position 
in the dual monarchy, not only politically but racially, 
because they are an entire and homogeneous nation. The 
undeniable fact that they are by no means a pure race, but 
have assimilated other peoples, and have undergone 
physical and mental modifications in consequence, does 
not detract from their position. Like the United States 

Magyar 
Ruthenian DID 
Roumanian 523 

-Slovak 
Qer'bdzCrQQ.t 




HUNGARY 

(on a much larger scale) this little nation has been 
strong enough to stamp its individuality on alien peoples. 
Nevertheless, it must not be forgotten that out of the nine- 
teen million Hungarian subjects more than half are non- 
Magyars. These figures would indicate great weakness 



112 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 113 

in the Hungarian position were it not for the fact that 
the ten million non-Magyars are broken up into Slavs, 
Roumanians, and Germans, while the Slavs are sub-divided 
into Slovaks, Ruthenians, Croats and Servians. The re- 
sult is the domination of the non-Magyar majority by the 
Magyar minority, and, moreover, it must be remembered 
that the greater number of the Slavs are inferior as yet 
in education and in power of organisation to the Mag- 
yars, while the Germans, who might have proved a 
serious factor, number only two millions and are being 
rapidly Magyarised. 

We must refer in the discussion of the subject of Slav 
races to the measures by which they are prevented from 
obtaining adequate representation, and to the Magyarisa- 
tion of education by which it is hoped to turn their racial 
ambitions into the channel of Hungarian national develop- 
ment. It is a strange but not incomprehensible turn of 
Fortune's wheel which makes the Magyars, so long 
strugglers against German aggression, the rulers in their 
turn of subject races. 

In the Middle Ages Hungary was, for the times, thickly 
populated, the Magyars numbering some five millions. 
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, however, they 
were much reduced by the Turkish wars and by a pesti- 
lence which swept over the country; and early in the 
eighteenth century, when finally freed from the Turks, 
they numbered no more than three millions. Immigra- 
tion from neighbouring countries filled up the gaps until 
in 1785 the population had nearly trebled, though of 
course it was more heterogeneous than formerly, the true 



ii 4 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Magyars forming, as they still do, a numerical minority. 
In recent years there has been a strong tide of emigration, 
to which reference must be made later. 

The social system in Hungary differs considerably from 
that of the surrounding countries. The Magnates, or 
great nobles, acquired a great deal of their wealth and 
political influence from their connection with the Court 
at Vienna. Maria Theresa attracted them thither, and 
to a great extent they became denationalised. At the 
present day the growing nationalistic feeling of Hungary 
no longer allows room for lack of patriotic feeling, but 
at the same time the great families, the Esterhazys, 
Palffys, Karolyis, or Andrassys, are to a great extent cos- 
mopolitan in tastes and habits. There is a second class of 
nobility, whose position constitutes the main difference be- 
tween Hungarian society and that of other European coun- 
tries. Families of this rank are noble by descent, many 
tracing their pedigree back to the earliest days of Hunga- 
rian history, when the warriors were granted patents of 
nobility on condition of service to the king. There is in 
Hungary, as in the rest of continental Europe, no such sys- 
tem as that by which the children of an English noble (with 
the exception of the eldest son) take lower rank than their 
father and gradually descend until they become commoners 
All the children inherit the father's title and status, and the 
tradition of nobility is handed on whatever the fortunes of 
the family may be. Many of the Hungarian nobility now 
occupy humble stations in life and are poorly educated, 
but until 1848 they all enjoyed, by virtue of their birth, 
certain privileges and immunities, and the right of repre- 




FARMYARD LABORERS, ON THE PUSZTA 




CZIKOS ON THE PUSZTA, NEAR DEBRECZEN 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 115 

sentation in Government which was denied to those not 
of noble birth. It is claimed for this Magyar nobility 
that they are the most distinctively national element in 
Hungary, being for the most part closely connected with 
the land, and never having come under the influence of 
Vienna. In 1848 (the year of revolutions) the growing 
influence of liberalism and national patriotism led to the 
abolition of these privileges by the nobility, but the aristoc- 
racy, or magnates, did not follow this example. The 
result has been a cleavage between the two ranks of Hun- 
garian society, and between them has grown up a third, 
composed of well-to-do Jews. So wide is this guilf, and so 
keen are the prejudices and social sensitiveness on either 
side that it is seemingly easier to include the Jewish 
middle class than to attempt a mixture of the two ranks. 
This is particularly the case with women who have social 
ambitions and who are almost afraid to meet the ladies of 
high rank lest the use of the second person singular 
" you," (instead of " thou " used between equals) should 
mark their own social inferiority. 

The great nobles who, as we have already said, are 
cosmopolitan in their tastes and habits, live on their vast 
estates with a great deal of state and ceremony, but their 
society, isolated by the break between them and their 
near neighbours and former friends, the small nobility, 
is rather a dull and empty one. The Magyars were ever 
a fighting race, but now that the days of real war are f 
over, and the nation has to settle down to a period of 
steady, dull, economic struggle, the great nobles who re- 
gard commerce as beneath them are somewhat short of 



n6 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

employment. Politics, into which the smaller nobility has 
plunged with great heat, are as a rule uncongenial to the 
magnates, who do not care for the modern political arena 
with its sordid interests and commerciality. Pleasure, 
therefore, absorbs far too much of the time of the Hun- 
garian magnate. Sometimes he may take an interest in his 
estate, but on the whole horses, women, and cards have a 
fatal attraction for him, and with his cosmopolitan edu- 
cation, bestowed by English and French tutors, he travels 
abroad more than his Austrian contemporary and finds 
his way to the gambling resorts and pleasure haunts of 
Europe. The fine characters and gifts of the women are 
a bright feature in this society, for by some means they 
have escaped the contamination of idleness and pleasure- 
seeking and, though unable to fight against their environ- 
ment, yet their influence over their husbands and sons is 
a good one. 

While the magnates, as a rule, keep aloof from the 
nobility, the latter are equally proud. Many are wealthy 
and live in a very handsome style, both in Budapest and 
on their country estates. The latter resemble country 
houses in England of the rather old-fashioned kind, where 
everything is well and gracefully done without display, 
and the servants are often family retainers. Unlike Eng- 
land, however, there is, as a rule, no village or town near 
the house, this being especially the case in the "puszta " 
estates. Everything necessary for the house is provided 
for in outbuildings and comes from the estate; only the 
post and telegraph stations must be reached by riding or 
driving. A disenchantment awaits those visitors whose 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 117 

idea of the " puszta " is an open country (as its name 
actually implies) over which gallop wild horses, followed 
by picturesque " Czikos," riding like centaurs with white 
skirts streaming in the wind. The " pustza " has nearly 
all been reclaimed, and the only bare spot now remains 
near Debreczen. Nearly the whole " puszta " has been 
encroached upon by the Alfold and is under cultivation, 
and the roads are great avenues of acacia trees, planted 
in the last half century. Very beautiful, if not so wild and 
picturesque as formerly, is this region of vast spaces, 
where all around on every side one sees vistas of growing 
crops — corn, oats, maize, and wheat — waving in the light 
breeze which creeps across, and fading to the dim blue 
of a cloudless horizon. The characteristic scene on the 
Alfold, lovingly dwelt on by poets, is that of the shepherd* 
in his rough cloak, driving his flock with the aid of his dog 
and with a donkey always beside him. The Alfold, the 
richest agricultural land of Hungary, is the great central 
plain, the largest in Europe, and the dwellers in this region 
are passionately attached to their wide spaces and distant 
horizons, which they prefer to the most majestic moun- 
tian scenery. Even the extreme cold of the winter, when 
the sea of gold is turned into a frozen lake, does not shake 
their allegiance. And indeed this fertile alluvial plain is a 
true mother to the Magyar race, and in its situation and 
conditions lies the key to much that is wonderful in the 
history of the nation it shelters. A fertile soil, genial 
climate, and a splendid system of waterways make it one 
of the picked spots of Europe, and the development of 
the Magyar race took place under fortunate circum- 



u8 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

stances. It is well that they repay their motherland with 
the affection that is her due, for she has been the source 
of their prosperity and unity. 1 

The reader of Hungarian romances will, it is to be 
feared, be disillusioned to hear that the Magyar is not 
necessarily a horseman, and that, since the day of rail- 
ways, he no longer springs on his steed and dashes off 
bare-backed at the slightest provocation. A more sophisti- 
cated period has arrived, and many Magyars have no 
horses to ride. Still, the love of animals is deeply 
implanted in the Magyar character, and the stables of the 
well-to-do contain many beautiful animals, while as riders 
and drivers the men retain their reputation. It is not 
usual to see horses ill-treated, as is common in some other 
countries of Europe. The breeding of horses, which 
forms an important business in Hungary to-day, has only 
been practised within the last century, the originator of 
it being Count Hunyadi. The Hungarian horse has been 
crossed with Arabs and Transylvanians, and the result 
is in great demand for strength and endurance. 

The size of the estates of the Hungarian aristocracy, 
churches, and municipalities is phenomenal. Altogether 
they occupy not less than forty per cent, of the land, while 
several estates count more than 57,000 hectares (140,790 
acres) and one or two as much as 228,000 hectares (563,- 
160 acres). 2 The nobles of second rank own only four- 

1 Sixty per cent, of the entire population of Hungary are engaged in 
agriculture, or seventy-five per cent, if labourers are included. 

- The largest land owning families are the Esterhazys, Karolyis, 
l'jltfys, Battlnanys, Festetics, Wenckheims, and Szechenyis. 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 119 

teen per cent, of the land, while there is a peasant 
proprietor class, numbering about two millions, which 
owns forty-six per cent, of the land. Some of these 
peasant farmers are well to do, and they represent a 
characteristic Magyar element in the nation, having al- 
ways remained on the land. Until recent years few of 
their children took to city life, however well to do they 
might be, and their homes are simple and primitive, 
albeit clean and comfortable. Some amusing stories 
are told of the typical farmers of this class. One of 
them, a man of considerable wealth, was well known for 
his adherence to old clothes and customs. On one occa- 
sion a young farmer, new to the district, who had taken 
a small holding not far from that of the old man, per- 
ceived a shabby figure leaning against a gate on the edge 
of his property and said, " Hi ! old man, do you want 
some work?" The wearer of a shabby sheepskin took 
his long pipe out of his mouth and nodded gravely. 
" Well, you can come along to-morrow and look after 
some of my sheep. Bring any of your bits of things or 
animals with you, there's plenty of room on the farm ! " 
Next day, as the young farmer walked across his fields, he 
saw a cloud of dust coming up the road. Presently there 
emerged from it a herd of cows, horses, and sheep — hun- 
dreds of animals with their drovers; this cavalcade swept 
past the astonished man and behind it was a huge waggon, 
creaking and groaning, laden with heavy furniture, in 
front of which sat his shabby acquaintance of the day 
before. " You told me to bring my animals and bits of 
things," said the old man. " And here we are ! " This 



120 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

gigantic practical joke is quite in character with the dry 
humour of the country Magyar, and many similar tales 
are told which illustrate his sense of humour, and a certain 
childish love of " putting the laugh " on someone else. 

The Magyar peasant woman does not, as a rule, work 
in the fields. Her business is to keep the home, for the 
Magyar prizes comfort and insists on a certain standard 
of it. As a consequence the peasant houses in most agri- 
cultural districts are clean and tidy, and on the Alfold they 
are generally perfect models of order and cleanliness. 
Every self-respecting Magyar housewife wants to have a 
room in her tiny house on which she lavishes her skill in 
needlework. The great criterion of respectability is the 
number of embroidered pillows in this spare room, and 
some cottages boast as many as eight or nine of these 
coveted possessions. Only in the harvest time do the girls 
go out to carry the midday meal or help in the fields with 
the boys. Even when working in the fields the Hungar- 
ian will insist on having good, well-cooked food, a contrast 
to the Wallachs or Slovaks working beside him, who are 
content with a lump of bacon and bread. It is interesting 
to contrast these conditions of life with that described by 
an English traveller (Bright) in 1 8 15. At that time, 
although the race was a fine one, their homes were miser- 
able, they were forced to do corvee for their overlords (as 
much as 104 days' labour annually) and one-ninth of their 
produce went to their lord and one-tenth to the church. 
During the travels of Joseph II. through Hungary in 1766 
the following petition was handed to him : " Most merci- 
ful Emperor; four days' forced labour for the Seigneur, 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 121 

the fifth day fishing for him, the sixth day hunting with 
him, the seventh belongs to God . . . how can I pay dues 
and taxes?" Joseph attempted to alter this state of 
affairs, but was obliged to withdraw his principal reforms, 
and the real emancipation of the serfs did not begin until 
1848, when social revolution was general throughout 
Europe. 

Undoubtedly the present Magyar standard of comfort 
and decency is largely due to the high position always held 
by their women, and it is not too much to say that this 
fortunate circumstance has been largely instrumental in 
making the Magyars what they are and keeping up their 
national patriotism. The women of all classes are, as a 
result, not only an important influence but worthy of the 
position they hold. The peasantry of both sexes are 
honest, self-respecting, sturdy, and industrious. Their 
manner is the reflex of their independence, mingled with 
natural courtesy. Everyone — peasant, overseer, shepherd, 
cowherd, or swineherd — kisses the hands of the ladies of 
their master's house, and there is no servility, only grace- 
ful courtesy, in the act. 

It is to be regretted that so large a portion of this fine 
peasantry have been leaving their motherland — mainly 
from the north and from Transylvania, where the condi- 
tions are unfavourable, but also from the Alfold — espe- 
cially as the emigration movement has not been altogether 
an economic necessity. Here, as in other countries, it 
is becoming impossible to retain the agricultural popula- 
tion on the land without more generous terms as to land 
tenure. The Magyar adores the land. It is the dream 



122 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

of his life to own it, and if this aspiration cannot be 
realised at home he falls an easy victim to the emigration 
agent who paints dazzling pictures of the new world. 
Despite the surface appearance of comfort the lot of the 
agricultural labourer is a hard one. Wages are exceed- 
ingly low, and the system of extensive farming on the large 
estates makes labour scarce for part of the year. The 
serious character of the drain on the population is illus- 
trated by the fact that, while the emigration in the last 
twenty years of the nineteenth century amounted to 
20,000 to 30,000 yearly (quite large enough), it suddenly 
increased in 1901 to 60,000, while in 1903 it rose to 
120,000. The density of the population is no explanation 
of this phenomenon, since Hungary has only 239 persons 
to 1000 acres — only four more to the acreage than 
Scotland. 

The Hungarian government is quite awake to the evils 
of this state of affairs, and is taking steps to restrict and 
regulate emigration as far as possible. The traffic in 
emigrants had become widespread and received help from 
quarters where it ought to have found opposition. In 
1903 laws were passed prohibiting many forms of re- 
cruiting and protecting the people who go. In addi- 
tion, the emigration of parents who have not made provi- 
sion for those left behind is prohibited, also that of male 
minors without consent of their parents, and female minors 
without the guardianship of some trustworthy and respon- 
sible person. Emigration is also denied to those without 
the means which will ensure them admittance else- 
where, and criminals or those under criminal investigation, 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 123 

while weak-minded persons are absolutely prohibited. In 
order to discourage emigration there is an interdict upon 
speeches publicly encouraging emigration, and upon 
advertisements, placards, or advertisements in papers 
having that aim. A penalty of two months' imprisonment 
is inflicted for a breach of these laws, and a similar pun- 
ishment is incurred by shipping agents and private persons 
seeking to promote emigration, and under this law no 
fewer than 2,000 secret emigration agents were dealt 
with in eighteen months, while 1,500 persons are now 
under police surveillance on suspicion of being connected 
with emigration schemes. Finally, the whole stream of 
emigration must now pass through Fiume, the intention 
being to render it more easy of regulation. 

It is stated that, as in Ireland, a great deal of money 
is sent home by successful emigrants. This is the case 
not only in parts of Hungary proper but in Croatia. In 
the latter country the stream of the best agriculturists 
overseas is an increasingly serious problem — there are 
said to be now no less than 270,000 Croats in America — 
since these men (drawn from the land) as a rule go to work 
in mines or manufactories, and if they return have lost 
their love of the land, while those left behind, especially 
the women, are encouraged to depend on remittances and 
become lazy and shiftless. This state of affairs exactly re- 
produces the conditions in some parts of Ireland. 

The Magyars, it must be noted, are suffering less from 
this economic result of emigration, since money sent home 
is spent on land, and the Magyar will return to his native 
country whenever possible; but already, even on the 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 125 

rather than local colour — gives them a special value, and 
some of his descriptions, as, for instance, that of a flood 
in " The Hungarian Nabob," are extraordinarily vivid 
and truthful. He is more successful in describing scenes 
which he has actually witnessed than in reconstructing 
them from imagination. The scene of some of his most 
successful novels, Transylvania, retained the flavour of a 
vanished era till quite recent years. Some of the Tran- 
sylvanian nobles lived in almost feudal style, and one or 
two were noted for eccentricities which make them legiti- 
mate descendants of the erratic figures on Jokai's canvas. 
Not so many years ago one of these was discovered by a 
visitor, dressed in old Magyar clothes and drilling a squad 
of geese in his courtyard. Another, in hot weather, imi- 
tated the Bedouins, camping out in his park, directing 
operations as if in the desert, striking tents early and 
pitching them at sunset. Yet another, wishing to retain 
a visitor who for some days had been desirous of leaving, 
had the wheels of his travelling carriage taken off and 
placed at the top of a high tree by a tsigane, the only 
man who could climb it, and who was then sent away to 
the nearest town! Eccentricities like these are disappear- 
ing as communications improve, but life in a Transyl- 
vanian castle is still full of interest and colour; the 
peasants of different races wear their national dresses, the 
scenery is magnificent, and the welcome warm. Hun- 
garians of all ranks are much attracted to English people. 
The aristocracy and nobility have English tutors and gov- 
ernesses and learn to speak our language. The English 
love of an out-of-doors life, the passion for horses and for 



126 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

sport, are all links to bind the two peoples together, and 
in no country in the world will the English-speaking man, 
Briton or American, if he is sympathetic and educated, 
find a warmer welcome or more hospitable treatment. 

It is always dangerous to attempt to generalise about 
the character of a race, and in writing of Hungarian char- 
acter this task is rendered more difficult by the great 
variety of peoples dwelling within the Hungarian bor- 
ders. Although some of these, as we said, have been at 
first assimilated, yet they cannot yet be regarded as fused 
into one nation. Slovaks, Wallachs, Serbs, Swabs, and 
Saxons are not yet mingled, as are the diverse elements in 
the English nation. The true Magyar type exists, but is 
chiefly confined to the Alfold, and the modern Hungarian, 
although patriotically Magyar in sentiment, is not typi- 
cally Magyar in appearance or character. The general im- 
pression in Europe, that the Magyar is essentially lively, 
bold, rash, and roystering, is one which, according to 
students of their own country, has grown up in modern 
times. The early Magyars were fighters, and the country 
has always been warlike, but the true Magyar character 
is simpler, less aggressive, and more reserved and digni- 
fied than the popular idea. One of the statesmen of the 
day is described by his countrymen as the ideal Magyar, 
so that a description of his character and way of life may 
convey a better picture than a generalisation. Count 
Blank is a tall, slight figure, erect in bearing, plain and 
almost sombre in dress, like the peasants on his estate. 
To strangers his manner is undemonstrative, though cour- 
teous and kind, but in his family he displays affection and 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 127 

has the reputation of being a model in his family rela- 
tions. He is just, and his judgment, founded on a wide 
range of reading, is good. He is neither expansive nor 
easily moved, though he has in excess the two Hungarian 
passions — love of politics and horses. In many ways he 
resembles the old English Tory country gentleman, espe- 
cially in his hatred of modern newspapers, new-fangled 
customs, and the artificiality and hurry of modern life. 
He has all the high sense of honour and honesty of this 
type, and with it a lack of the tact and finesse which are 
indispensable to a modern party leader. He is an excel- 
lent landlord, too, and, like his English prototype, likes to 
be out in the open all day, riding and driving, and (with 
a contempt for luxury which our old-fashioned Tory 
hardly emulated) he is out before six o'clock in the morn- 
ing, and every day does the rounds of his estate, some 
thirty-five miles, either in the saddle or driving. In the 
latter case he will frequently drive four horses. His house 
is big and rambling, comfortable but not luxurious. The 
furniture is not antique or beautiful, but neither is it mod- 
ern and hideous. It is just homely and comfortable, and 
the servants match it well ; many have been all their lives 
in the same service. The cooking is simple and good; 
the wines are really excellent. This is not the type of 
nobleman's house where the owner gambled away his for- 
tune and did dare-devil deeds. That type existed, but was 
more usual in the wilder Transylvanian country than on 
this sober plain. There is a " plain " character, and a 
11 hill " character, and the same race will develop quite dif- 
ferently under different conditions of physical geography. 



128 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

These plain-bred Magyars were a prudent, canny people, 
like the Lowland Scots. The true Magyar is no reckless 
spendthrift. He has a keen sense of the value of money, 
and though hospitable, he is not lavish or wasteful; the 
peasant class indeed are specially distinguished for thrift. 
The patriarchal system, tremendous hospitality, and reck- 
less waste may have been found in an earlier stage of 
development, especially among the magnates, but the scale 
of living was far less magnificent than in other European 
countries at the same period, nor was reckless extravagance 
typically Magyar. Our typical Magyar, although de- 
scended from a long line of nobility, and though, like 
all Magyars (of every rank) very self-respecting, would 
be the last man to sacrifice anything to show, and osten- 
tation his soul abhors. Unfortunately for Hungary, this 
type of Magyar nobleman is not so common as might be 
wished. Those who take part in public life have become 
infected by a spirit of restlessness and excitability, which, 
it is said, was largely introduced by Louis Kossuth, who 
had imagination, magnetism, and oratorical gifts in such 
a high degree. Eloquence is, however, as natural to Hun- 
garians of all races as to the Latin peoples, and this is 
at once a help and a danger to them in their political 
evolution. 

There is one group of Magyar characteristics which, 
in curious contrast to what we may term their English 
and Scottish affinities, gives them a resemblance to the 
Irish. They are, like the Irish, anxious to make a good 
impression, and this not merely because of personal vanity, 
but for the same genuine, childlike impulse so character- 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 129 

istic of the Irish. Their patriotism leads them to make 
sacrifices in order to put their country in a favourable 
light before foreigners, but their instinct is almost as 
strong in this matter as any conscious feeling of patriot- 
ism. It is hardly necessary to remark that this attitude 
of mind is essentially different from that of the English 
or Lowland Scot, whose very pride in their own coun- 
tries makes them averse to shewing that they are proud, 
and who do not care for the approval of others sufficiently 
to make any effort to secure it. The Magyar has the 
dramatic sense and has sensibility and imagination. He is, 
therefore, unable to emulate the serene indifference of 
the typical Briton, and is perhaps somewhat inclined, at the 
present stage of his career, to go rather far in the direc- 
tion of indulging in rhetorical and theatrical effects. Like 
many people who are not constitutionally noisy (and the 
Magyars are unlike the Irish in this respect) the Hun- 
garian politician is apt, when inflamed by his own elo- 
quence, to think more of the immediate effect of his words 
than of their permanent value. Once roused, even the 
true Magyar is hot in wrath and hard to control, but the 
storm soon passes and leaves a cool blast of reflection. 

Are the Magyars good workers? One has heard 
many contrary accounts in this respect, and as a matter 
of fact it is not possible to judge all workers by the same 
standard. The Magyar is not, like the German, one of 
your steady, plodding, regular workers. The Slovaks 
who work in his fields have this habit of patient industry 
far more than he. But he can work, and he does work — 
like all men with a temperament — very hard at times. 



130 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

In the summer is his busy time, and the erratic Magyar 
will do more work in one week than a Slovak in two. In 
the winter he feels he has earned the right to recreation, 
for it must be observed that in one respect the Hungarian is 
on a high plane of civilisation ; he does not recognise work 
as the end of his being but as a means to an end. After 
an intensely utilitarian period (from which many civilised 
countries have hardly yet emerged) we are beginning to 
perceive that this really indicates a high and not a low 
ideal of life. Having turned whole nations into machines 
for doing so much work, we are now busily trying to find 
ways in which they can be raised again to a level in 
which the beauty of mere existence is once more evident 
to them. It is, therefore, of the greatest importance in 
judging a people to find out whether they have any idea 
of rational amusement, and in this respect the Hungarians 
must be placed above the English or Americans, at least 
so far as the proletariat and middle classes are concerned. 
They have a sense of beauty which our own people (un- 
less educated) lack, which they display in their amuse- 
ments, partly in gay and picturesque dress and partly in 
dancing and music. 

In the matter of costume it is to be regretted that the era 
of the hideous " ready-made " is already interfering with 
the peasant dresses, but in the country districts they still 
survive, and among the Slovaks in the north, the Saxons 
and Wallachs of Transylvania, and the Croats and Serbs 
of the south there is a wonderful variety of costumes, 
little altered for hundreds of years. The retention of 
these dresses, too often looked upon as a sign of back- 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 131 

wardness in a people, should be regarded as a positive 
virtue, not only for aesthetic reasons, but because they 
foster racial pride and industry (they are covered with 
beautiful embroideries), and save their wearers from the 
slovenly and degrading habit of wearing cheap, second- 
hand clothes. Even in the towns of Austria-Hungary one 
does not see the crowds of badly dressed girls and women 
of the poorer classes in cheap and tawdry finery, or cast- 
off clothes of once-fashionable cut. Neat, plain clothes 
are the rule in the towns and in the country, and the 
retention of the national costumes prevents the change of 
" fashion " and rivalry in imitation smartness. It is im- 
possible to describe any of the hundreds of peasant cos- 
tumes either of Austria or Hungary, of which only a few 
are illustrated in this book. Many date from mediaeval 
times, and are full of historic significance. The modern 
well-to-do Magyar peasant wears an adaptation of the 
ordinary ugly garments of civilisation which is neat and 
smart, if not specially picturesque, but the working clothes 
of the shepherd or " Csikos " are a trifle more romantic. 
The most beautiful costumes are the court dresses, copied 
from those of the seventeenth century, now donned by 
officials on all possible occasions. They are rich in fabric 
and sober in hue. Plum-coloured velvet and fur are 
favourite materials, but the inevitable Oriental touch is 
given in the curved scimitar which is carried, and in the 
aigrette adorning the fur cap or turban, as also in the 
profusion of jewellery which is worn by those who can 
afford it. A function in Budapest, adorned by these gor- 
geous figures, is a picturesque sight, and even the vision 



i 3 2 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 
of a German Jew parading proudly in the dress of a 
Magyar noble of the seventeenth century does not spoil 
the impressiveness of the spectacle. Such men as Count 
Apponyi or Mr. Strobl (the sculptor of the St. Stephen 
statue, recently unveiled) look like heroes of romance 
rather than denizens in a workaday world. 

Nothing is more indicative of the character of a people 
than its amusements, but as different races take their 
pleasures from different points of view, the English and 
American student of Hungary may perhaps think that 
the national love of dancing and music does not shew that 
soberness and solidity of character which we claim for 
the true Magyar. This is because our Puritan revolution 
has planted within the British (and therefore the Ameri- 
can) mind the ineradicable conviction that dancing and 
music are in themselves if not exactly sinful (we think 
we have outgrown that!) yet rather near it — frivolous 
at best. The Hungarians never passed through this flame 
of self-conscious righteousness, and they dance still as 
children dance, the natural and even religious expression 
of their pleasure in existence. Dancing was a form of 
religious expression before any living religion was formu- 
lated, and the Oriental influence in Hungary has been 
sufficient to keep alive this side of the question if neces- 
sary, but, as a matter of fact, the Hungarian is not suffi- 
ciently self-conscious to wonder why he dances. He 
dances because it seems right and natural and because he 
is naturally musical and loves rhythm. Some of the peasant 
dances are of ancient origin, but the modern czardas, 
which is regarded as the " national " dance, is probably not 




£ JO 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 133 

quite so old as is usually imagined. The mention of 
dancing immediately suggests the tsigane, without whom 
no dance in Hungary would be complete. The tsiganes 
are those strange Eastern people who under various names 
are found throughout Europe, and by a curious confusion 
of ideas became known in England as Egyptians or gypsies. 
In 1890 there were some 95,000 of them in Hungary, 
which they are believed to have entered in the fourteenth 
century. Attempts have been made to form settlements 
for them, but as a rule their nomadic habits are as inerad- 
icable as their language — the so-called Romany — which 
they jealousy preserve, despite their own facility for learn- 
ing other tongues. The Hungarian tsiganes are true 
Orientals in appearance, tawny, yellow of hue, with lus- 
trous dark eyes, gleaming white teeth and black hair slightly 
frizzed. They are described as the spoilt children of 
nature, passionate, crafty, superstitious, thriftless and in- 
dolent, and their occupations are chiefly horse lifting and 
dealing, palmisty, music and a little metal working. 

Nothing has been more advertised and less understood 
than the tsigane music of Hungary. The tsigane, as 
we know, is found all over Europe, and the reason why he 
has become specially famous for his music in Hungary 
is probably to be explained by the fact that the Magyar 
helped him to develop a particular side of his talent. 
There is no doubt that the tsiganes of Hungary are es- 
sentially musical and that this is the result partly of 
heredity and partly of training. The smallest children 
have a violin put into their hands and begin to imitate 
their elders, and there is among the whole people a sense 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 135 

heart, of stirring the blood. They have the mysterious 
magnetism of the East in their bows, and they draw the 
very hearts out of the simple peasants, even inducing in 
them a kind of hysteria. Educated people are influenced 
in a lesser degree, but even they are carried away by this 
strange influence. Is it the East calling to her children? 
Can it be that the Magyars are too new — only a little over 
a thousand years — from their home in the great mother 
continent and that Asia calls them through these wan- 
dering vagabonds who have never made a home since 
they left their sacred mountains ? It is said by some Hun- 
garians that the influence of this sensuous Oriental music 
is not a good one, that it resembles dram drinking, and by 
the intensity of the feeling it arouses wears out the nerves 
and saps the vitality of the people. Outside the tsigane 
there is nothing very distinctive about Hungarian music. 
The whole country is musical in the sense that the people 
love to sing, or to listen to music, and village bands and 
choral societies flourish. It is difficult in this matter, how- 
ever, to decide how much is due to outside influence. The 
Slavs — all branches of them — are notoriously musical. 
Their beautiful folk songs are found in every part of east- 
ern and central Europe. They carry their pre-eminence 
out of the range of natural music and are distinguished 
as composers, as executants, and even as creators of style. 
The Teutons are musical in quite another way. Theirs is 
the music of mentality, the expression in musical form of 
the highest intellectual achievements rather than appeals 
to the emotions. Italy again has a musical race, a people 
whose thoughts shape themselves in music, and who are 



# 



136 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

naturally as melodic as birds. Amid all these surround- 
ings the Magyar, even were he not naturally musical, 
could not fail to be influenced, but his impressionability to 
music makes it certain that he has a natural trend in that 
direction. One gift of the musical nations the Magyars 
have not. Unlike the Slavs, the Italians, or the Welsh of 
the British islands, they have not the gift of song. Their 
voices are rather unpleasing, and they have produced few 
singers, and none of the front rank. Their list of musical 
celebrities is short (if we count only those of more than 
local fame) and contains one or two of doubtful Magyar 
origin. The abbe Liszt and the violinist Nachez are the 
best known. 

In poetry Hungary claims to have produced a genius 
on a level with Shakespeare and Goethe, though the un- 
translatable character of his verse makes it difficult to 
institute a comparison. Petofi, however, certainly exer- 
cises over his countrymen the spell only cast by poets of 
the first order, and the range of his sympathies is suffi- 
ciently catholic to be Shakesperian. This peasant poet, 
with the heart of crystal and mouth of gold, sang at the 
troubled period of Hungarian history before and during 
the revolution of '48. He died young, and his grave 
is unknown, but his voice speaks to the Magyar of every 
rank in accents fresh and ringing — speaks of the beloved 
land, of her historic greatness, and the destiny of her 
people, of simple joys, of pastoral idylls — covering the 
whole field of Magyar interest. His nearest rival was 
a contemporary, Jean Arany, and the third great national 
jxiet was Vorosmarty. Petofi, it is said, was not Magyar 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 137 

by descent, but Slav, which lends interest to the follow- 
ing discrimination between the two greatest poets, freely 
translated from an article by a Hungarian : " Petofi, 
the turbulent fire of enthusiasm and the free expression of 
every thought and feeling; Arany, the contemplative truth- 
fulness and charm of classic form. Together they re- 
generated with all its riches the spirit and the letter of 
the national poetry, by following to its sources their native 
language." 

There are now no poets of this stature, and the most dis- 
tinguished modern man of letters was the novelist Jokai, 
of whom we have already written. His " Magyar nabob " 
is considered to be the truest picture of Hungarian life 
before 1830; " Rose Jaune " describes with vividness the 
provincial noblesse, and the " New Proprietor " deals with 
the Absolutist regime. Two other great novelists are 
Kemeny and Eotvos; the latter particularly has qualities of 
imagination and humour which should make him readable 
to others than his own countrymen. There are now in- 
numerable writers and poets, but the period is not the 
heroic one, and Hungary, like England and America, is 
enduring a period of literary mediocrity. There is a natu- 
ral poetic turn among the people, and their love for 
Nature is often expressed in beautiful words. A young 
servant, who went to the mountains with his master and 
mistress, developed a great fondness for gathering the 
hill flowers. " Yes," he said, " I love them, but when j> 
they see me I feel that they say, ' Ah, here domes the 
man who wants to kill us ! ' " 

Theatre-going, as a popular amusement, is naturally 



138 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

restricted to town life. It presents no striking features. 
Budapest has a national theatre, where plays of a patriotic 
character are specially patronised, and there is a national 
opera house. There is a good deal of dramatic talent 
among the Magyars and dramatic literature is supported 
by the government. But France and Italy supply Budapest, 
as they do Vienna, London and New York, with most of 
its theatrical fare, the great exception being, of course, 
that Wagner has his following in the world of opera. 
The lighter theatrical fare is also borrowed a good deal 
from foreign countries. Recently there were advertised 
in Budapest two English plays, ZangwilPs " Merely Mary 
Ann " and Conan Doyle's " Sherlock Holmes," while the 
third was a Hungarian farce containing a number of con- 
ventional foreign characters — " Yankee Bill," etc. The 
somewhat morbid modern school of Norway and the de- 
cadents of France are now influencing the younger Mag- 
yar writers and critics, rather to the detriment of the 
national, distinctiveness, which is so remarkable in Petofi 
or Jokai. 

The volume and quantity of Magyar writing, both jour- 
nalistic and that of a more permanent character, is sur- 
prising when we remember how recent is its growth. In 
1823 there were only four publications written partly in 
Magyar and none in that tongue only. To-day there are 
1500 publications, of which more than 1000 are in Mag- 
yar, and this number increases continually, particularly in 
periodical literature and journalism. 

The subject of Hungarian poetry and drama leads one 
at once to the consideration of a question which has been 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 139 

a most controversial one. The merits and demerits of the 
Hungarian language have been hotly discussed in their 
bearing on the development of the people. The tongue 
spoken by the Magyars is of Ural-Altaic origin, and this 
fact distinguishes them from the other people of Europe. 
Their language has, however, been subjected to many in- 
fluences, and has incorporated Italian, Slav, German, and 
Latin words, while the close contact of many centuries 
with the Ottoman Turks introduced many Turkish 
words. 

In the Middle Ages, Magyar was not yet a literary 
language. Up to a certain period, while the different 
parts of Europe were cast into the crucible and were evolv- 
ing distinct nationalities from heterogeneous materials, the 
Church, the one repository of learning and culture, dictated 
the tongue of schoolmen of all parts of the Christian world. 
This tongue was Latin, and Latin was the polite language 
of Hungary. As late as 18 15, an English traveller, 
Robert Bright, records that in wayside inns in Hungary 
he was able to converse through the medium of Latin with 
the minor officials and better class farmers, as well as with 
the nobility. Indeed, while the growth of German cul- 
ture and the influence of the Reformation combined to in- 
troduce a more living language into the rest of Central 
Europe, Hungary opposed the introduction of German, 
and preferred to use Latin, not only in literature, but in 
official and social life. Joseph II., however, made a 
determined attempt to make German the language of all 
his domains, this being part of the policy of centralisation 
devised by Maria Theresa, in which it was essential that 




i 4 o THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

law and administration should have a common language 
in every part of the Habsburg possessions. 

Under this pressure a revival of the Magyar tongue 
began, and it was not only revived, but was actually created 
as a literary tongue. The task was a tremendous one, for 
Hungarian literature was practically non-existent; there 
were no Hungarian universities, and the language was not 
taught in the schools. In fact, this ancient national tongue 
had been degraded to the position of a patois, unrecognised 
save as the means of communication among the uneducated. 
When, therefore, in 1825, Count Stephen Szechenyi rose 
in the Diet and addressed his compatriots in the vulgar 
tongue, the effect was to electrify them. Only one of the 
genuine Magyar nobles, a member of one of the oldest 
and finest families, could have dared such a revolutionary 
proceeding. It was of course part of a preconceived 
scheme for reviving the Hungarian national independence, 
and it is said that of the patriots who took the most 
prominent part in this great movement more than one 
was handicapped by not being familiar with Magyar. 
This language revival in Hungary is of the most intense 
interest to all students of political and social phenomena, 
and also to an even wider class to whom the psychology 
of peoples is a fascinating study. It has been argued, and 
not without reason, that the rejection by the Hungarians 
of a great living language, possessing one of the finest 
literatures of the age and affording the open sesame to the 
best modern works of science and philosophy, was a mis- 
take; that their deliberate resuscitation of so exotic a 
tongue as Magyar cuts them off from the rest of the West- 




"HONVED" AND MOUNTED POLICE, HUNGARY 




GROUP OF HUNGARIAN PEASANTS 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 141 

ern world, retards their mental growth, and hinders their 
development economically as well as intellectually. As to 
the rival merits of the two languages, it seems almost 
puerile to argue. As a medium of expression Magyar 
may be all that is claimed. It is said to be rich and full 
in synonyms, flexible, and simple in construction, poetical 
in form, characteristic in idiom. It is certainly musical 
on the lips of educated people, distinct in articulation, 
adapted for oratory, and yet capable of clearness in ex- 
pression. Moreover, it has not been corrupted by dialects, 
but is practically the same everywhere and in every rank 
of life. But with all these inherent virtues it cannot be 
denied that a language whose literature dates practically 
from the middle of last century, and which will never jyS' 
carry a man beyond his own frontiers, is not the best 
medium for a liberal education. Hungarians recognise 
this and are accustomed to learn other languages, in order 
to supply the deficiencies in their own. The educated 
people are extraordinarily good linguists, quite as good 
as the Russians, whose reputation in this respect is so 
great. Nor can it be denied that this necessity for learn- 
ing languages is an educative stimulus and that the effect 
is most happy on those who are in a position to obtain edu- 
cational advantages. Nevertheless, the Hungarians did 
make sacrifices, and continue to make them, in the preser- 
vation of their language. They put on one side the more 
obvious advantages of adopting German, and they sub- 
mitted to the economic handicap and the educational dif- 
ficulties, which will become more apparent when the rise 
of a Hungarian democracy modifies the present system of 



142 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

government by the cultured classes. This they did because 
of the instinct which told them that national existence is 
bound up with national traditions and a native language. 

The political struggles centred round this point — the 
revival of Magyar as the language of schools and admin- 
istration-^-and in 1825 a National Academy was formed, 
by means of subscriptions from every part of the kingdom. 
Soon after the middle of the century the Austrian Govern- 
ment was compelled to allow Magyar to be used for the 
laws, government and administration, but only after 1867 
/ was Hungary entirely free to follow out her own pro- 
gramme. In 1834 the National Theatre was founded 
with the object of performing only such plays as would 
stimulate Hungarian patriotism, and the National 
Museum, founded in 1802, has been made a most inter- 
esting and instructive object lesson in the historic greatness 
of the kingdom. 

Education was entirely remodelled on the German 
plan, which is now followed in its most progressive de- 
tails in the principal school centres. Nevertheless, the 
condition of general education is still backward, and it is 
f calculated that fifty per cent, of the population are illiter- 
ate. This percentage, however, includes Croatia-Sla- 
vonia, where the peasants are still in a very backward 
condition, and in any case it must be remembered that the 
population is the most difficult for which to provide ele- 
mentary education, being to a large degree agricultural 
and scattered. Moreover, the task of taking over con- 
trol from the clergy was necessarily a gradual one, and 
altogether Hungary had an up-hill task in reorganising 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 143 

her education, and it is much to her credit that in the 
twenty years between 1880 and 1900 the number of those 
who could read and write was nearly doubled. Technical 
and industrial education are receiving a great share of at- 
tention, and trade schools and other facilities for training 
industrial workers form part of the Government policy 
of endeavouring to make Hungary independent of Aus- 
tria. Naturally the language question complicates ele- 
mentary education, as the school population is in many 
districts predominantly non-Magyar, while in others there 
is a mixture of races. The Magyars are anxious that 
their tongue should be the only official one in the kingdom, 
and their policy of Magyarisation is bearing fruit. Al- 
though the Magyars are less than half the population, 
seventy-six per cent, of the schools use their language, 
twelve per cent, use German, and the five million Slavs (a 
quarter of the total population of Hungary) have only 
five per cent, of the schools using their native tongues. 

Although the economic question must be discussed in a 
separate chapter, it may be useful here to record what the 
Magyar revival has done for Hungarian trade. The 
Society for Promotion of Hungarian Manufactures and 
Commerce was founded by Kossuth in 1844, at a time 
when " Hungarian manufactures " were almost non-exist- 
ent. In 1875 a national exhibition was held to draw 
attention to the industries of the country, still in a some- 
what embryonic condition, and a campaign of self-denial 
was begun whereby all patriotic Magyars bound them- 
selves to use the native manufactures even when inferior, 
rather than those imported from Vienna. One of the most 



144 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

striking features was the determined stand made by tobacco 
smokers, which helped very largely to develop the local 
industry, now an important one and a source of revenue. 
Although this artificial stimulation could not in itself have 
recreated Hungary as an industrial country, it has helped 
to give an impulse in that direction. Hungary, with ex- 
cellent waterways, communications, woods, coal, and other 
natural resources, is a country naturally adapted for in- 
dustrial expansion, and there are unmistakable signs that 
she is actually embarking on a successful career as an in- 
dustrial country. That there are difficulties and dangers 
in this course cannot be denied, and it is perhaps unfavour- 
able that the true Magyar is essentially an agriculturist or 
pastoral in his tastes. The optimistic Hungarian will not 
allow that this may prove a serious difficulty. He points 
to the important class, the smaller nobility, who since 
1848 have gradually lost much of their connection with 
the land and become an urban people. Others of this 
class have started industries on their estates. If these 
people can develop real commercial instincts and become 
the capitalists, the captains and directors in the industrial 
movement, all will be well; but they have to face serious 
competitors — Germans, with German capital behind them, 
and the ubiquitous Jew, who is becoming the universal 
middleman throughout Central Europe. 

The policy of State aid to industries began seriously in 
1 88 1. Within ten years 195 factories and 266 agricul- 
tural spirit distilleries sprang up. In 1890 a very strong 
measure was taken in granting subsidies to new under- 
takings, as well as exempting industries from taxation. 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 145 

The textile industry is the one most heavily supported. 
Besides direct subsidies loans are granted by the State on 
easy terms, and everything possible is done to facilitate 
matters by the Ministry of Commerce. A Bill of an even 
more radical character for the encouragement of industry 
becomes law in January, 1907. It is too early as yet to 
judge whether this method, so entirely opposed to that by 
which Great Britain built up her industrial prosperity, is 
likely to be successful. A great deal depends on certain 
political conditions which must be discussed in a subse- 
quent chapter. 

The railway policy of Hungary is closely allied to her 
commercial policy. After 1867 Hungary had her own 
railway administration, and for a time the system of pri- 
vately owned lines, guaranteed by Government, was con- 
tinued. Eventually, however, the State decided to take 
over the lines, which has been done in various ways (by 
forced sale if necessary) , so that to-day nearly all the lines 
are State owned. The zone system was adopted, Hun- 
gary being the first country to introduce it. By this sys- 
tem the tariff is relatively lower as the distance increases, 
thus promoting long-distance traffic. The result has been 
to give an impetus to passenger and goods traffic, which 
justifies the experiment, although the railways are still an 
expense and not a revenue-producing source. Travel in 
Hungary is not only cheap, but on the State lines is comfort- 
able, and the courtesy of officials is a pleasant feature, while 
there is not the necessity to keep an incessant eye on one's 
luggage (and often have it rifled even then) which makes 
travelling in Italy such an unpleasant experience. Restaur- 



146 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

ants are very fair, and sleeping accommodation can be had 
in the International wagons-lits which are familiar to all 
travellers. The Hungarian network of communications 
is good and the railway system continues to be extended, so 
that before long every portion of this large kingdom will 
be easily accessible. 

A few words as to Hungarian hotels may not be out of 
place here. A few years ago they were notoriously bad, 
but great improvement has taken place; all the more fre- 
quented places have comfortable accommodation and, 
though in the principal towns the rates are high, yet on 
the whole Hungary compares favourably in this respect 
with other countries. 

In tracing the nationalist revival of Hungary one is 
struck with many resemblances to the Czech revival which 
took place simultaneously, but in one respect Hungary 
and Bohemia differ. Religion has not played the his- 
toric part in the former that it has in the latter. Hun- 
gary received her Christianity, it is said, from Bohemia, 
for her first Christian king, St. Stephen, was converted 
by a Bohemian monk. Stephen converted his people by 
somewhat forcible measures, and as a reward the title 
" Apostolic King " was bestowed on him by the Pope, and 
has been worn by his successors ever since. Since that 
time the majority of the Magyars, unlike the Czechs, 
have been firm in their adherence to the Roman Catholic 
Church, to which fifty-one per cent, in Hungary belong. 
The Habsburg influence was actively Catholic, and the 
Protestants were even at times protected by the Turks. 
Despite local disputes religious toleration has been, on the 







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HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 147 

whole, more general in Hungary than in any other part of 
Central Europe, and to-day there is little feeling of 
antagonism between the various sects. The magnates are, 
on the whole, Catholics, the Greek Church claims twenty- 
three per cent, (chiefly among the Serbo-Croats), while 
the German colonists are mainly Evangelical. Some of 
the old families belong to the Reformed Churches, a cer- 
tain number having professed Calvinism, while there are 
a considerable number of Lutherans among the smaller 
nobility. The religious question, crystallised into the cleri- 
cal and non-clerical points of view, has influenced political 
life, and is important in local considerations, but it has no 
broad distinctions and is more of an auxiliary than a direct- 
ing factor in modern political life. One disturbing feature 
of religious life in Austria is found also in Hungary in the 
fact that the church owns very large areas of land, so 
that the wide range of questions in which the land-owning 
interest is predominant is complicated by the intrusion of 
the politico-religious element which so greatly embitters the 
situation in parts of Austria. 

In all that has been written hitherto of the Hungarians 
it has been the Magyars, as far as possible, that have been 
taken as the basis of the country. But on three sides of the 
central plains, which are the true Magyar country, there 
are mountainous fringes in which the predominant element 
is non-Magyar, while to the south is the country of Croatia- 
Slavonia, racially and historically independent of Hun- 
gary but politically dependent on \tk since 1090. The 
mountains of Transylvania, to the east and southeast of 
Hungary, are extraordinarily interesting, not only from 



148 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

the wildness and grandeur of their scenery, but from their 
turbulent history as the bulwark for centuries of Chris- 
tianity against Mohammedanism. The tide broke over 
them again and again, and the impress of the Oriental was 
left on the country, and gives it a strange non-European 
flavour even to-day. The early Magyar colonists in 
Transylvania are known as Szeklers, " guardians of the 
frontier," and they are descendants of old conquering 
bands. In some districts the landed proprietors are all 
Magyar, though the population is Rouman or Wallach, 
and this beautiful mountain country is rent with dissen- 
sions as to race and language which seriously retard its 
development. The racial and linguistic situation is, in- 
deed, extraordinary. There are in this small country no 
fewer than six distinct races (Szeklers, Moldo-Wallach- 
ians, Saxons, Jews, Armenians and gypsies) , five languages 
(Magyar, German, Roumanian, Greek, andTsigane), and 
five religions. This is one of the provinces of Hungary 
in which the religious question is a burning one, and it is 
complicated by the fact that the races themselves are 
divided into religious sects. Thus the Moldo-Wallach- 
ians, who claim descent from the early Roumans (sup- 
posed to be the result of colonisation by Roman legions), 
speak a bastard Latin tongue and belong to two sections 
of the Greek church, the Orthodox and the United. The 
latter is a compromise between the Roman and Greek 
communions, in which the marriage of the clergy, the giv- 
ing of the Cup to the laity in the sacrament, and the use 
of the vulgar tongue in services, are conceded. Naturally 
there is considerable dissension between the two sects. 




ROUMAN PEASANTS, FROM SOUTHEAST HUNGARY 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 149 

The Saxons (German colonists brought in by the Hun- 
garians, who granted them special privileges) form small 
but prosperous communities, and were at one time entirely 
self-governing on the condition of furnishing military serv- 
ice to the emperor. They are all strict Lutherans, and 
get their ideas and education largely from German 
sources. They are a very independent people, industrious 
and self-respecting, and belong to the burgher rather than 
the peasant class. The Szeklers, and Magyars of a later 
settlement, represent three more sects, the former being 
Unitarian and the latter both Roman Catholic and 
Protestant. Some of the oldest aristocratic families of 
Transylvania, however, are Calvinist, and besides all these 
Christian sects there are the Jews and gypsies, the latter 
being still practically pagans. 

The nationalist movement centres in the Rouman pop- 
ulation, stimulated by the renascence and prosperity of 
the kingdom of Roumania, to which, historically, they be- 
long. In 1848, during the Hungarian revolution, the 
Roumans, like the Croats, sided with Austria and re- 
ceived (when the settlement came) similar treatment; 
that is to say, they were handed back to Hungary. The 
influence of the powerful Magyar nobles of Transylvania 
was instrumental in securing this, and indeed it is hard to 
see what settlement would have been satisfactory to all 
the races involved. The dissatisfaction of the Rouman 
population, however, continues and their racial feeling 
shews no sign of diminution. They keep up an entirely 
voluntary system of elementary schools (of which there 
are said to be over 2000) in opposition to the Hungarian 



150 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

state schools where the language is Magyar. In 1895 
the Roumans, Slovaks, and Serbs held a congress and 
formed an alliance for the preservation of local autonomy; 
and the local press never ceases to agitate for national 
rights. The fact, however, that the landed aristocracy is 
mostly Magyar, and that economic pressure is in favour 
of the Hungarians, is against the realisation of these as- 
pirations ; nor is it easy to see what other policy Hungary 
could pursue than that of upholding her sovereignty and 
therefore declining to recognise separate national rights, 
although she may permit full local autonomy. With the 
most serious of these claims to separate nationality within 
the Hungarian kingdom — that of Croatia-Slavonia — we 
must deal separately, as it comes under the head of Slav 
development; and under the same heading we must speak 
of Galicia, also a Slav country. 

Before taking leave of this brief outline sketch of the 
Hungarians, however, we must give some slight descrip- 
tion of their capital, and of one or two beauty spots in 
their country of which they are justly proud. The aver- 
age English traveller who does the journey between 
Vienna and Budapest (comparatively dull and monoto- 
nous, whether by rail or river) and then goes on to Bu- 
charest on his way to Constantinople, has little idea of the 
range of scenery in this beautiful country. We have 
spoken of the Alfold, that wonderful plain; in summer a 
vast sheet of cultivated fields spreading in waves of gold 
and green to the horizon ; in winter a frozen sea, the grey 
broken only by dark masses of farm buildings. We have 
also mentioned the wild romantic scenery of Transylvania. 




VILLAGE WORKERS, TRANSYLVANIA 











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HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 151 

Of late years the Carpathians, the loftiest mountains of 
Hungary, have become accessible by rail, and are now on 
a fair way to develop into a second Switzerland as a 
pleasure and health resort. The Hohe Tatra, the central 
portion of these mountains, has the most magnificent 
scenery imaginable, and at the time of year when Central 
Europe is hot, the climate in these alpine regions is ideal. 
Great jagged masses of mountain rise sheer from green 
wooded valleys; beautiful pine woods cover the lower 
mountain slopes, and the panoramic views obtained from 
some of the peaks are so wide in range and vivid and 
changing in colour as to defy reproduction. Hotels are 
springing up on these slopes, and well-to-do Hungarians 
are making country homes in these beautiful valleys. The 
north side of the Carpathians is patronised both as a win- 
ter and summer resort by Poles and Galicians. The 
peasantry here are Galicians, while on the south side 
one finds, besides the Slovaks, those interesting German 
villages called the free " Zip " towns, settled originally 
in the thirteenth century. The names throughout on 
the south side have been Magyarised. Neu and Alt 
Schmecks have become U. and O. Tatrafiired. To the 
south of Hungary, near the Hungarian-Servian border, is 
the lovely Cserna valley, one of the most beautiful spots 
in the kingdom, where is the ancient Roman bath known 
as the " Bath of Hercules." The scenery on the Danube 
is throughout interesting and often beautiful, but the most 
striking portion is that between Belgrade and Orsova (on 
the Servo-Hungarian frontier) where the river passes 
through the Kazan gorge. The tablet recording Trajan's 



152 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

feat of making a road along this gorge still remains to 
remind us of an heroic age. A little below Orsova is an 
interesting relic of Turkish invasions in the island of Ada 
Kaleh, which after several changes of owner was finally 
ceded by the Turks to Hungary in 1878. The inhabit- 
ants were all Turkish, and retained their ancient mode 
of life and their feeling of dependence on the Sultan, and 
the Hungarian government has not interfered with them. 
The decay of smuggling and increasing economic pres- 
sure is now inducing these people to emigrate, and the 
picturesque remnant of Turkish rule in Hungary bids fair 
to disappear altogether. 

But the pride of the Magyars undoubtedly centres most 
in their capital, the twin towns of Pest and Ofen, since 
1872 united as Budapest. The situation is far finer than 
that of Vienna, being on both banks of the Danube. The 
right bank rises up in a steep slope, crowned with trees 
and fine buildings, presenting, especially in the evening, a 
picturesque and romantic appearance. Although the 
towns of Ofen and Pest have ancient origins (the former 
being situated on what was once a Roman settlement, 
capital of Lower Pannonia, and the latter being an old 
German town before the thirteenth century, when the 
Mongols destroyed it), yet Budapest is essentially a 
modern town; and in fact, like nearly everything in 
modern Hungary, it dates almost entirely from the Aus- 
gleich (1867). It is, perhaps, to be regretted that the 
Hungarians, in building their capital, did not endeavour 
to give it some distinctive features, as has been done with 
such towns as modern Nuremberg. The difficulty was, 





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HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 153 

however, that there was in reality no old Budapest to serve 
as a model. The city had become mainly German and 
was not until after the national revival the focussing 
point of national traditions, as was the case of Prague 
with the Bohemians. The church of Mathias, dating 
from the thirteenth century, is almost the only historic 
building that remains. Here the kings and queens of 
Hungary must be crowned with the crown of St. Stephen. 
The royal castle of Visegrad (a Slav word meaning " high 
fortress "), inhabited by the kings of Hungary as early 
as the eleventh century and restored by Mathias Cor- 
vinus, was destroyed by the Turks, and the modern 
royal residence, originally built by Maria Theresa, was 
partially burned in 1849 but has since been restored, 
rebuilt and enlarged. This magnificent royal palace — 
from whose terraces a fine view of the Danube and the 
city spread out on its banks is obtained — stands empty and 
silent almost all the year. The King comes at times, but 
seldom for more than a few days, and when he appears 
brings with him his whole staff of servants, every article 
of household plenishing and food, and even, if the bitter 
Hungarian report can be believed, his Austrian wines and 
mineral waters. No other member of the royal family 
comes to Budapest, and the heir, the Archduke Ferdinand, 
is unknown there. This neglect is a source of great 
grievance to the Magyars, who not only built their king 
a splendid residence, but must in addition to its upkeep con- 
tribute to the civil list. They feel that the presence of their 
monarch is necessary for the dignity of his Hungarian capi- 
tal and that without it, for a part of the year at all events, 



154 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

the royal city is shorn of its splendour and they themselves 
deprived of their rights. Hungarian nobles have now 
made their homes in Budapest instead of Vienna. The 
Esterhazys, Festetics, Karolyis, and Pallavicinis have 
built splendid palaces, and all that is wanting from the 
social point of view is the centre and stimulus which the 
court could supply. 

The principal public buildings are in the Renaissance 
style and are handsome, if not characteristic. The Par- 
liament House is a fine though florid pile, but already it 
is not large enough for the requirements. In the pretty 
suburbs are parks for recreation, of which the Town park 
is the most popular, and one of the favourite resorts is the 
beautifully situated Margit Island, which is reached by 
river steamboats. 

The bridges over the Danube, of which there are five, 
afford an interesting object lesson in the development of 
the Magyars. The first was built by an English firm, the 
second by a French, the third by a German, the fourth 
by Hungarians and Germans, and the fifth, from incep- 
tion to completion, by Hungarians alone — plans, mate- 
rials, everything — as the Hungarians proudly proclaim. 
All names of streets and buildings are now Magyarised, 
but an even more interesting process is converting the 
names of citizens as far as possible to a Hungarian form. 
Now, the population of Budapest is by no means predomi- 
nantly Magyar. The Jewish element is extraordinarily 
prevalent, the official estimate being one-fourth of the 
total population. They not only control the press and 
\/ money affairs, as in other European cities, but actually 



HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 155 

do physical labour as porters, cab drivers, and in other 
humble walks of life. As tradesmen they are ubiquitous, 
and in some of the main streets the names over the shops 
are indicative of a compromise between German-Jewish 
racial pride and the Magyarisation which is at work. 
Thus, Mr. Rosenberg has " Bela " as his " Christian " 
name, while Mr. Rosenbaum selects " Ferencz." In a 
short period, therefore, German names, whether of Jew- 
ish origin or not, have been largely replaced by Magyar, 
and the Magyar form of first names is universally adopted. 
According to statistics six-sevenths of the inhabitants of 
Budapest speak Magyar and only one-seventh German, 
and it is by no means unusual for middle-aged people, who 
were brought up to speak German, to refuse to use that 
tongue in conversation with strangers. The situation is 
exactly similar in Prague, and the traveller who expects a 1 
knowledge of German to carry him comfortably through 
the realm of the Habsburgs will have some surprises. It 
is stated that it is better for a stranger to address the 
middle and lower class people in French or English first, 
not with the expectation of being understood, but as a pass- 
port to favour, after which he may get the desired in- 
formation in German. Although this is mainly the re- 
sult of a policy of Magyarisation, there is an element at 
work in producing it which is more than mere State policy 
or compulsion. It is agreed by many foreigners living in 
Hungary that there is a contagion about the nationalist 
aspiration which is almost irresistible. In no country in 
the world are there to be seen so many divers races mak- 
ing one (despite local jealousies) in their support of 



156 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Hungarian national tradition, and all are as vehement in 
their advocacy of Hungarian independence as the Mag- 
yars themselves. Jews and Germans swell with patriotic 
pride over their " ancient constitution," and more than one 
instance could be cited of Hungarian patriots (some well 
known as the exponents of the Magyars to Europe) who 
have not one drop of Magyar blood. 

The contagion, the attraction, are in the Magyar people 
themselves, and surely in this magic quality lies the secret 
of their success. The magnetic force they exercise is do- 
ing work which mere coercion or manoeuvring could not 
accomplish. Elements of weakness, of unevenness, and 
of danger there are, but the core of the matter, the char- 
acter of the true Magyar, is not only sound, but is display- 
ing that most valuable and intangible of qualities — the 
power of attraction and assimilation. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE SLAVS 

A glance at the tables (both in the text and in the 
appendix) which give the relative proportions of the 
various races will show that the Dual Monarchy is not 




SLAVS OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE BALKANS 

predominantly either German or Magyar in population 
but Slav. The Slavs are more numerous than the Mag- 

157 



158 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

yars and Germans together (over twenty-two millions 
against twenty), and, if we take Austria and Hungary 
separately, we find that in the former the Slavs are three- 
fifths and the Germans one-third, while in the latter 
the Slavs are one-quarter and the Germans one-tenth, of 
the total population. Notwithstanding this numerical 
preponderance the Slavs are not the ruling race, and great 
as their influence must be they are handicapped by the 
extent to which they are broken up. Only two sections of 
the race can lay claim to distinctive nationality and historic 
rights, all the others being merely scattered fragments of 
races, detached portions of ancient kingdoms, conquered 
or annexed by alien peoples and living under foreign rule. 

The Czechs of Bohemia and the Serbo-Croats of 
Croatia-Slavonia form the two exceptions, and though it 
is not possible to put them quite in the same category, it is 
sufficiently correct for the purpose of generalisation to say 
that these two races and countries are both ancient, in- 
dependent kingdoms, annexed, the first to the Habsburg 
crown, the second to the kingdom of Hungary, but retain- 
ing their sense of historic independence and a rising senti- 
ment of nationality. Bohemia is part of Austria, Croatia 
of Hungary; both must give allegiance to a government 
which is foreign in speech to them; both are fighting for 
their own language in schools and administration; both 
have a very considerable degree of autonomy. Having 
given the main outlines of their position in common we 
must now look a little closer at each country separately. 

We have already traced the outline of that fascinating 
story in which Bohemia plays so great a part. There is 



THESLAVS 159 

no chapter in history more romantic or fuller of heroic 
figures and exploits. We have seen Bohemia rise to the 
predominant position in Europe under the Luxembourg 
emperor who was her king. We have seen her capital, 
Prague, the first city of the empire, famous for its learn- 
ing and beauty. We have seen at a later period the 
heroic warfare for religious and national rights which 
turned the country into an armed camp. Indeed, the ex- 
ploits of the Czechs as fighters somewhat give the lie to 
the theory of the peaceful disposition of the Slav. If 
peaceful, he is at least tenacious and obstinate, and the 
whole history of this long submerged race, now rising 
again in various parts and by devious ways — but steadily 
rising all the same — shows that it is one of the races of 
the future. And among the Slav peoples, the Czechs are 
pre-eminent. Since the beginning of her history Bohemia 
has struggled against Teutonic influence, and for a time it 
seemed that she had struggled in vain. The process of 
Teutonisation was insidious. The agricultural Slav could 
not hold his own economically against the Germans, and 
with the rise of the cities during the Middle Ages, pro- 
tected and fostered by the Emperor as a check on his feudal 
lords, the Germans increased in prosperity and influence 
while the peasant Slavs sank to serfdom. Then came the 
religious persecutions of the Habsburgs, in which the 
Bohemian Protestant nobles lost their lands, and the un- 
successful rebellion, after which twenty-seven of the Czech 
noble leaders were put to death ; and so we come to a period 
in which there were in Bohemia (for a time at all events) 
German (or other alien) nobles, German cities and trad- 



160 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

ers, and only the miserable serfs to represent the Czech 
people. It is not wonderful that, under such circum- 
stances, the spark of national life nearly nickered out. 
German was spoken throughout the country and the only 
remains of its constitutional independence was the meet- 
ing of the Estates to vote taxation, a privilege of which 
they had never been formally deprived. 

The first impulse towards renascence came, in Bohemia 
as in Hungary, from a literary revival, and in many 
respects this was more natural and possible for the Czechs 
than for the Magyars, for Bohemia possessed a genuine 
national literature, one of the earliest in Europe to be 
written in a vulgar tongue. The works of John Huss have 
already been mentioned, and English-speaking readers will 
be interested to trace the similarity in the work done by 
Wyckliffe's translation of the Bible in laying the founda- 
tions of the literary form of our language, and that of 
Huss in purifying Bohemian from Latinisms and putting 
it on a new footing as a cultivated tongue. In each case 
it was the revolt of what was indigenous, the language of 
the soil, against an arbitrary foreign tongue, imposed 
chiefly through the medium of the churchmen who were 
the teachers and writers (and also the politicians) of the 
day. Huss secured a temporary triumph for his own 
language at the Prague university, which had been origi- 
nally intended to be equally German and Slav, and his 
action illustrates the difficulty of securing permanence 
for any system of equal rights to two conflicting races 
and languages. One or other must prevail. The swing 
of the pendulum made the university a Jesuit college in 



THE SLAVS 



161 



the seventeenth century, and the Czech language was 
nearly forgotten, but the traditions remained, and in the 
early part of the nineteenth century the troubling of the 
waters throughout Europe sent currents of feeling to 
Bohemia which manifested themselves in the renewed in- 
terest of the Czechs in their ancient language and litera- 
ture. There is a story, believed to be true, though there 




BOHEMIA 

are different versions of it, that a company of Czech pa- 
triots and savants in the early years of the nineteenth cen- 
tury met together in a coffee house in Prague and talked 
of their country, its ancient language and literature. Then 
one of them, probably Jungmann, said: "If this roof 
were to fall in on us Czech literature would perish with 
us ! " So feeble was the flame, so widespread the influence 



1 62 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

by which the Germans had apparently stamped their own 
individuality over the country of Bohemia. 

A century later we find the Czech language spoken all 
over the country, and there are 752 newspapers and period- 
icals. Besides the Czech National University founded 
in 1882 (it has three times as many students as the German 
University), there is a National Museum (1885), with 
the Pantheon in the centre for national festivals, and a 
National Theatre. Czech is granted equal rights with 
German in schools, but the progress of the national lan- 
guage may be judged from the fact that whereas in 
the German schools (where German children predomi- 
nate) one out of every eight speaks Czech, in the Czech 
schools only one in forty-seven speaks German. The 
percentage of illiteracy among the Bohemians is much 
lower than among any other peoples in the Austrian 
lands, so that the educational test is a good one. The 
census shews that an increasing number of people of Ger- 
man origin enter themselves as Czechs, and testimony to 
this is found in the names over shops. Prague, once so 
German, is now intensely Czech. One can hardly get an 
answer to a question in German, and apart from these 
obvious signs it becomes evident to all who make any study 
of modern Bohemian life that the native tongue is a living 
one and that it is the medium through which not only daily 
life but every branch of study, art, science and literature 
is being pursued. The effort to raise it to the position of 
a Kultur Sprache has been so successful, even in the teeth 
of the position held by the great German language, that 
it has actually invaded middle and high-class education in 



THE SLAVS 163 

Vienna. The Slavicising of the names of places, rivers, 
streets, etc., is almost a minor detail in this campaign. 
In many cases this merely involves restoring the original 
names, as the nomenclature of Central Europe was almost 
all of Slavic origin. 

The work done in the century which has seen so won- 
derful a change for the Czechs has been mostly accom- 
plished since 1866. At that date, by the treaty between 
Austria and Prussia, Bohemia (together with all the Aus- 
trian lands) ceased forever to form part of a Germanic 
empire. The federation of Germanic states which was 
formed, and which was to develop in a few years into the 
German empire, excluded the territories of the House of 
Habsburg, and thenceforth German influence has been a 
declining factor in Bohemian development. This change 
would not, however, have been so favourable to the re- 
nascence of the Czechs had not their national party suc- 
ceeded by this time in establishing a constitutional position. 
Political manoeuvres took the place of open rebellion, which 
in 1848 had proved abortive and had ended in firm re- 
pression. These political manoeuvres are not to be de- 
scribed here, only their results, and of these the most 
remarkable is certainly the gradual winning back by the 
Czechs of their liberty as to language. At present the 
attitude in principle is that the Germans and Czechs, con- 
stituting two separate nations, enjoy equal rights in 
Bohemia, with the exception of the fact that the central 
administration is German in language. The Czechs still 
contend that their language should be compulsory even for 
the officials of this department in Bohemia, nor is there 



1 64 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

any sign that they will be contented with lesser privileges. 
They form seventy per cent, of the population, concen- 
trated for the most part in Central and South Bohemia 
and in certain districts of Moravia, and Prague is now 
over five-sixths Czech. The basis of electoral represen- 
tation at present favours the German minority, and the 
Czechs have been engaged in a fight to secure universal 
suffrage, which has recently been promised, and, if properly 
carried through, will throw a far greater balance of power 
into Czech hands. 

The Slavic character of the Czechs has undoubtedly 
been modified by the long intercourse with Germany, al- 
though they, like the Hungarians, do not care to admit 
this as freely as they might. The result in Bohemia has 
been to produce a race strongly differentiated from other 
branches of the Slavs. The Czechs are universally said 
to be industrious, hard-working, thrifty, intelligent and 
pushing. The latter quality is essentially non-Slavic, and 
it is extraordinarly developed in the Czechs. Possibly 
the rigour of the fight through which they have come has 
helped to strengthen their character. 

The artistic qualities so early developed in Bohemia, 
and still maintained in their manufactures (the beautiful 
peasant costumes surviving in many regions are relics of 
native art) , form the subject for debate, since it is hard to 
decide how far they were due to Teutonic influence or how 
much the Germans borrowed from their Czech neighbours. 
The broad general impression given by all the Slav races, 
however, is that they are peculiarly sensitive to beauty of 
form, sound, or colour, and this natural capacity has helped 



THESLAVS 165 

the Czech to become at once an artist and a craftsman. 
The high degree of civilisation to which the country at- 
tained at an early period of her history gave room for the 
development of taste and skill, and, as one of the first cities 
of Europe, mediaeval Prague drew artists from distant 
parts of the world whose influence was felt in her architec- 
ture and decoration. Unfortunately at a later period 
Prague was again and again the scene of conflict, and her 
artistic treasures were ransacked and her buildings de- 
stroyed, but she remains still one of the most interesting of 
European cities, with many ancient buildings saturated 
with historic associations. Perhaps no city of Europe is 
so rich in ancient legend and historic interest. Lovers of 
the antique can gaze at the castle of Vysehrad and wonder 
which of the stones used in it were originally part of the 
castle of Libussa, traditional foundress of the Bohemian 
dynasty. The castle of later rulers still stands sentinel 
over the town, a grand romantic pile, built at different 
periods, and recording in every carved stone some chapter 
in the stormy history of the Czech people. The Imperial 
palace, dating from the golden age of Bohemia, the reign 
of the Emperor Charles in the fourteenth century (but 
also restored and enlarged in the sixteenth and eighteenth 
centuries), contains also many historic spots, notably the 
room in the old town hall whence the Imperial counsellors 
were thrown from the window by the Bohemians in 161 8. 
Then there is the splendid bridge of Charles IV., begun in 
the fourteenth century, and, with a wide transition to a 
different type of monument, there is the Jewish cemetery, 
the oldest burying place of the Jews in Europe. Apart 



1 66 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

from all these interesting antiquities, however, Prague has 
a flavour of its own, a distinction well conveyed in a passage 
by a French writer (M. Ernest Denis) : 

" Florence, like a painting of Botticelli, is elegant and 
delicate. Venice is voluptuous and magnificent as a paint- 
ing of Titian. Paris is charming, and pleases the stranger 
because there everything breathes a smiling charm and the 
desire to please. Vienna is joyous and sparkling like an 
operette of Offenbach, . . . Bruges and Ratisbon 
have the melancholy grandeur of ruins — Prague is tragi- 
cal. Every one of its stones recalls an heroic drama." 

Nevertheless, Prague does not live any longer in the 
past, but has embarked on a new career as a modern city. 
The modern town is a manufacturing one, and, as we shall 
see subsequently, Bohemia is one of the most industrial 
countries of Europe. 

Prague has become, by virtue of the genius of the 
Czechs, one of the musical centres of Europe, for they are 
in the front rank as musicians, both in creation and execu- 
tion. The religious body of the Bohemian Brothers, which 
played so large a part in Czech national history, encour- 
aged music in their services, and the choral singing of the 
Czechs was a feature of their religious worship. The in- 
fluence of other countries, especially during the eighteenth 
century, when the pre-eminent genius of Mozart and Bee- 
thoven could not fail to affect the musical thought of all 
Europe, has detracted from the purely Slav character of 
Bohemian music, but the revival of interest in national 
traditions began to make itself felt in the middle of last 
century, and a school arose which went back to folk songs 



T H E S L A V S 167 

and national dances as their musical inspiration. The 
best known Bohemian composers of this school are Dvorak 
and Smetaud, who have familiarised the English and 
American public with the rhythms and strange harmonic 
effects peculiar to Slav music. It is hardly necessary to say 
that other and greater composers, particularly the Pole, 
Chopin, have borrowed freely from this source, but to do 
anything like justice to the influence of Slav folk songs on 
modern music would be impossible in the scope of this 
sketch of one phase of Slav development. Many names 
familiar to modern music-lovers belong to the Czech peo- 
ple. The two most famous modern professors of the 
violin are Sevcik and Kocian, and the world-renowned 
Kubelik is the son of a Czech peasant. It may interest 
lovers of grand opera to know that the great singer Ter- 
nina, though not a Czech, is of Slav origin, being a Slovene 
born at Agram in Croatia. 

Interesting and romantic as are the associations awak- 
ened by the old city of Prague and its ancient buildings, it 
is in the modern industrial city that we must look for the 
key to the situation of Bohemia. We have spoken of the 
renascence of the Czech language and national tradition 
and of the transformation by which the whole life of the 
country has been changed, and we have said that the first 
impulse was given by the revival of literary and historic 
associations which were used to stir up a long dormant 
sense of national independence. But this stimulus in itself 
could not have been sufficient for the work accomplished. 
It was not even so powerful an agent in Bohemia as in 
Hungary, for the conditions of life in the former country 



168 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

were peculiarly unfavourable to any sentimental influences. 
The Czechs, as we have seen already, were originally a 
pastoral and agricultural people, living on the land, to 
which during the feudal period they became attached by 
ties not of ownership, but of serfdom. The industrial and 
commercial life of the country was almost entirely in Ger- 
man hands. It happened that the crisis of the national 
movement came at the very eve of the industrial awaken- 
ing of Europe, and the Czech patriots were faced by the 
fact that their future as an industrial country lay in Ger- 
man hands. The Czech nation (or rather that section of 
the Czech people which had not been entirely denational- 
ised), was composed chiefly of the stratum of society in- 
cluding the rural population, small artisans, domestics and 
workmen — not promising material for a great national 
movement. But although the nobility contains compara- 
tively few families of pure Czech origin, this has not pre- 
vented the rise of a genuine nationalist feeling among 
them. The literary and historic campaign had done its 
work in creating an enthusiasm for Czech ideals among 
the educated upper class. The arrangement of society 
was abnormal, for between the two classes of Czechs came 
the well-to-do middle class of Germans, and in their hands 
lay most of the industrial interests of the country. More- 
over, towards the middle of last century those German 
districts which, situated in the mountainous country fring- 
ing Bohemia, had been miserably poor and struggling, 
were by mechanical inventions (especially the utilisation 
of water power) able rapidly to improve their position. 
The fight appeared a very unequal one. 



THE SLAVS 169 

In 1848 the reforms effected in the position of the 
peasants freed them from the last remains of the feudal 
system and made possible the revolution in their position 
which followed. Already, as early as 1770, a national 
movement for the improvement of agriculture (promoted 
by the Bohemian nobility, especially such families as the 
Bucquoi, Gallas and Clary, which are not of Czech ori- 
gin) had led to the formation of a society which endeav- 
oured to improve the time-honoured methods of peasant 
cultivation. The rotation of crops, intensive culture, and 
other modern ideas were developed on the large estates, 
and the work done, though not immediately productive, 
was preparing the soil for future developments. The 
Czech patriots saw that the only chance for the recreation 
of a Czech nation was to enable their people to take part 
in the industrial evolution then beginning. The Czech 
had always been a hard and careful worker; he had now 
to be made something more, in order that he might rise in 
importance and become the mainstay of the industries of 
the country by his talent and capacity. It was a conflict 
between capital and talent, made harder for the Czechs by 
the fact that, while brains were their only equipment, the 
Germans often possessed both brains and money. The 
nobility again came forward as initiators of this industrial 
movement, though the factories they started were gradu- 
ally (with some exceptions) absorbed by companies or 
private persons, the latter being almost invariably Jews. 
In the improvement of the economic position of the Czech 
peasantry a most important factor was the establishment 
of mutual credit co-operative societies, on the Schulitz- 



170 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Delitsch model. The first of these was founded in 1858", 
and thirty years later there were no fewer than four 
hundred in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, and actually 
one (for Czech workmen) in Vienna. In five years 
from this date these numbers had increased by over 
fifty per cent, many developing into banks which are able 
to lend money for large industrial enterprises. Even the 
financial crisis of 1873 (which shook the economic position 
of Austria to its foundations), while it retarded the de- 
velopment of these societies, did not seriously damage 
them. A less successful movement was initiated about 
1870 for the association of workmen and artisans in vari- 
ous ways; the movement being akin to that attempted in 
England for the establishment of co-operative workshops, 
in which the principles of mutual benefit and profit sharing 
are embodied. For a variety of reasons these have not 
been very successful in Bohemia. 

It was not until after 1867 that Bohemia was able to 
expand her educational system in a manner favourable to 
the industrial progress of her people, but at the present 
time this branch of education is developed with great com- 
pleteness. Technical schools and institutes have been 
established in every part of the kingdom and great assist- 
ance is given to all secondary courses. For instance, at 
Turnov a complete course in every branch of applied art 
or science can be had gratuitously, the town and state shar- 
ing not only the cost of this training, but also of giving aid 
to needy students while pursuing their studies. It may be 
noted here that Bohemia has not yet found sufficient scope 
for the number of her people who acquire higher educa- 



THE SLAVS 171 

tion. Before the Czech university was founded at Prague, 
Czech professors were employed in the Slav schools and 
universities of Croatia, Russia, and other Slav countries, 
and a large number of the secondary school masters are 
still employed in Russia and Bulgaria. 

To return to the task of the Czech patriots in the mid- 
dle of last century. It was well that they perceived the 
fact that in the creation of new industries, even more than 
in the invasion of those already flourishing in German 
hands, lay the path of salvation, and fortunately the epoch 
was favourable to fresh developments. The high intelli- 
gence and advanced education of the younger Czechs were 
demonstrated in their achievements as chemists, mechanical 
engineers, and inventors, and the talents which had been 
used formerly in the service of other people were now 
engaged in evolving new forms of industry specially suited 
to the conditions of Bohemia. The beet sugar industry 
owed its inception to this combination of science and 
patriotism, and the impetus given to this production in 
i860 by the American civil war carried it forward on a 
wave of prosperity in which several other manufactures 
were included. The establishment of distilleries and of a 
variety of factories in which sugar is a raw material, and 
also the manufacture of machinery, were the direct out- 
come of the success of the beet sugar industry. Nothing 
was more effectual in accomplishing the change of the 
Czechs from an agricultural into an industrial people and 
in giving their prosperity a national foundation apart from 
German enterprise. 

While German capital and enterprise continues to hold 



172 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

its own, therefore, the Czechs have secured their position. 
As workmen they are sought after by employers of labour, 
and this not only in their own country, but in Austria, Ger- 
many, and the United States. An estimate of the num- 
bers to be found in the United States and the high state 
of their education can be formed from the fact that there 
are no fewer than seventy Czech papers published in 
America. The migration of the Czech workman is chiefly 
in search of higher wages, and it is estimated that a very 
considerable percentage of the workmen in Austria come 
from Bohemia. Unfortunately the racial question, com- 
plicated by the influence of socialism, leads to many serious 
disputes between employers and workmen and even to race 
conflicts among the workers themselves. 

The influence of socialism on this newly created Czech 
industrial proletariat is hard to estimate, since the whole 
development of socialism in every part of the world is 
wholly erratic and in Bohemia is unusually affected by ex- 
traneous circumstances. There is a nationalist socialist 
party and a Catholic socialist party (the latter of course 
anti-Semite), but the growing influence of socialism is in 
the direction of internationalism; the patriotic ideals and 
self-abnegation of the period just past are giving way to a 
programme in which social reforms and the revolt against 
class government are the salient features. In dealing with 
the problems of unemployment, pauperism and provision 
for old age, which are always pressing ones in an industrial 
country, Bohemia is following a line laid down in more 
than one of the European countries, but not yet recognised 
in England or America. The principle is that the State 



THE SLAVS 173 

must find work for its citizens and that vagrancy and beg- 
ging must not be permitted. In practice, a very complete 
system of labour bureaus is maintained and special public 
works are undertaken to provide employment. Needless 
to say this method of dealing with one of the invariable 
phenomena of industrial growth is still on its trial. 

As to the social system of the reconstituted Czech 
nation, it does not differ outwardly from that of neigh- 
bouring German states. There is a nobility, very largely 
of foreign origin (though Bohemian in sympathies) , which 
owns a considerable percentage of the country. One 
family, for instance, the Schwartzenbergs, owns 600,000 
acres. 1 Moreover, the Jews are acquiring land in Bohemia 
at a rate which is causing some disquietude. The process 
is one which, by the humbleness of its methods, attracts 
little notice at first, but which is, in fact, at work in more 
than one country and more than one continent. Were the 
Jews not so peculiar a people, were it possible to assimilate 
them or to break down the barriers which separate them in 
so many ways from other races, this acquisition of land by 
them would not be of any consequence as a social pheonom- 
enon. It is, however, the more remarkable because the 
Jew is not generally supposed to suffer from land hunger. 
The process is simple. A Jewish pedlar appears one 
morning in some hamlet; bye and bye, by the exercise of 
the habits of frugality and industry and by the special 
commercial talents of his race, he saves a little money, gets 
a liquor license (somehow or another), and begins to lend 

1 The chief landowning families are the Schwarzenbergs, Lichtensteins, 
Lobkovics, Schcnborns and Thuns, who between them own 7.59 per cent, 
of the total area of Bohemia. 



174 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

money to the peasant on his crops. This advances to a 
system of mortgages on future crops, and the debt piles up 
until the wretched peasant is a mere serf. In some parts 
of Austria and Bohemia whole villages have passed in this 
way from their peasant owners to the landlordship of a 
Jew. This system is to be studied in its most advanced 
state in Galicia, where it is aggravated by the habit of 
the Polish nobility of employing Jewish factors or stewards 
on their estates. The Jew, as middleman, forces the 
hands of his employers by putting them under monetary 
obligations and is in reality the master of the situation. 
So grave is the state of affairs produced that agrarian rev- 
olution is continually menaced, and there seems reason to 
believe that in many parts of Central and Eastern Europe 
we are already over the threshold of one of those periodical 
waves of irresistible anti-Semitism which at various times 
have almost overwhelmed this irrepressible race. The 
granting of universal suffrage in Austria-Hungary is very 
likely to precipitate matters by throwing power (for the 
first time) into the hands of the people who are most in- 
jured by the Jewish predominance. It is impossible here 
to explain how the Jewish question is differentiated in the 
various sections of the Dual Monarchy by special social 
or economic conditions. But the situation is broadly the 
same in all these countries, and is distinguished from that 
in England or America by the fact that, whereas with us 
the Jews are confined to two classes — the lowest industrial 
and the wealthy commercial — and do not buy up the land 
to any appreciable extent, on the continent of Europe they 
are obtaining a position which menaces the freedom of the 




A BOHEMIAN LANDSCAPE 




THE WAYSIDE SHRINE, BOHEMIAN OBERLAND 



THE SLAVS 175 

agricultural and industrial proletariat. They are enabled 
to do this by means of special qualities of brain and char- 
acter which give them an advantage, but they have also 
been favoured hitherto by the impotence of these classes 
(in Austria-Hungary and Russia especially) to protect 
their own interests. In Bohemia, for instance, the elec- 
toral franchise gives the land owners and capitalist class 
(through various channels) an entire control of legisla- 
tion, and, moreover, the position of the Jews as the bankers 
and capitalists gives them a leverage which they are not 
slow to employ through the medium of the press and po- 
litical parties. Where they are unable to buy land they 
lease it from the owners of large estates (sometimes the 
church) but the tendency now observable in Bohemia to 
break up the large estates (which are not in " fidei-com- 
misso " — that is entailed) gives them opportunities for 
acquiring a more permanent footing. 

It will be seen that Bohemia is a country full of vital 
interests. In natural beauty she may claim comparison 
with any other country in Europe, for her mountains, pine- 
woods, forests, valleys, rivers and lakes are not only beau- 
tiful, but give every variety of landscape. Historically, 
too, she yields to none; her quaint towns and mediaeval 
castles are a delight for the antiquarian, and the costumes 
and customs of a more picturesque era linger in her 
villages. But for the student of political and social prob- 
lems she offers an equally rich field, and it is impossible 
in this brief sketch to do more than indicate the special 
features which have made the Czech renascence remark- 
able. 



176 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Among the northern Slavs of Austria-Hungary must be 
reckoned the Poles and Ruthenians of Galicia, which is a 
crown-land of Austria. Something has already been said 
of the conditions in Galicia, where six and a half millions 
of the population are Little Russian or Ruthenian peasants 
and Polish nobles, and the remaining million are three- 
fourths Jews and one-fourth Germans. The Jewish ques- 
tion is assuming formidable proportions. Originally the 
land was held communally by the peasants after Slav 
custom, but after the Polish occupation they lost it, and 
their condition to-day between alien (and often im- 
poverished) landlords and the Jewish middleman is in- 
tensely miserable. At the same time there is great poverty 
and distress among the Jewish population itself, and de- 
spite the constant stream of emigration the condition of the 
Galician Jew probably shews the low water mark reached 
by the race in Europe. An attempt is being made to assist 
the peasants by promoting the home industries — embroid- 
ery, lace, woodwork, basket-making — many of which are 
interesting and picturesque; but the poverty of the poorer 
and the lack of a real progressive element in the upper 
classes makes Galicia one of the most backward countries 
in Europe. The percentage of illiteracy is no less than 
sixty-eight per cent., including a very highly educated noble 
class, and this is the more deplorable because Galicia, as a 
province of Poland, had a very early civilisation and a 
history full of romance and patriotism. Cracow, the cap- 
ital, is a city of memories of past greatness, full of ancient 
palaces, time-worn monuments of a heroic past. The 
Poles, as is well known, displayed great qualities as fighters 




THE CZARTORYSK.I MUSEUM, CRACOW 




THE ROTUNDA, CRACOW 



THE SLAVS 177 

and patriots in "their struggles against the Turks, and their 
religious convictions continue to be a powerful influence in 
the country. Unfortunately the racial division between 
Poles and Ruthenians is accentuated by the fact that they 
belong to rival churches, the former being Roman Cath- 
olics and the latter Orthodox. 

Owing to the electoral system which prevails, the Poles 
control the legislation, for the Ruthenians, who form 
three-sevenths of the population, only send seventeen out 
of 161 members to the local Diet, and are hardly repre- 
sented at all in the Reichsrath. Owing to the oneness of 
their aims, and the disunion of the Germans and Czechs, 
the Polish representatives in the Reichsrath, acting as a 
compact body, have been able to dictate terms to the Gov- 
ernment, which has had to purchase their support by whole- 
sale concessions. The Polish provinces therefore enjoy 
very considerable autonomy under an Austrian governor 
and an independent Diet, which, however, they use in the 
manner to which the history of Poland is a witness. Mal- 
administration of the grossest character, mutual jealousies 
and dissensions in the local Diet, and oppression of the 
peasant class are characteristics of Polish rule which are 
no novelty. At the same time the Poles continue to main- 
tain their old pre-eminence in the brilliance of their liter- 
ary and artistic achievements, and in the Polish provinces 
of Austria the attempts at Germanisation have proved 
futile, the tide having turned in the opposite direction. 
Polish, which is closely allied to Czech and the Lusatian 
Wendisch, is the language of the administration as well as 
the schools. There are two universities, at Lemberg and 



178 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Cracow, and it is said that their students, though not nu- 
merous, are very highly cultivated, and draw their inspira- 
tions now, as in the past, from French rather than from 
German sources. The most celebrated writer ( from Aus- 
trian-Polish soil) is Henri Sienkiewicz, whose reputation is 
international, but there have been many others, such as 
Mickiewicz and others of the so-called " emigration 
school," whose headquarters were in Paris. The predomi- 
nant note in the later literature is rather that of the mordant 
French school than the robust romance of Sienkiewicz, but 
the imaginative, dreamy and somewhat fatalistic strain is 
common to all writers of Slav blood. It is necessary to 
remember, in criticising Austrian rule in Galicia and the 
backward condition of that country (criticisms which apply 
equally to Bukowina), that this region belongs geographi- 
cally as well as racially to the Russian empire. It forms 
part of a high terrace on the north side of the Carpa- 
thians sloping to the Russian plains, the climate is rig- 
orous, and the conditions of life are dissimilar to those 
of Central Europe, to which politically it has been 
attached. 

Another of the many races of the Dual Monarchy found 
in the northwest of Hungary and in the east and south of 
Moravia are the Slovaks. They are not in reality a dis- 
tinct race, being the remains of those Moravian peoples 
who were long ago conquered by Hungary. Their lan- 
guage is fundamentally the same as the Czech, or rather 
is probably an older form of the original Slav language. 
The Slovaks are a poor, industrious but slow and ignorant 
people, retaining with some tenacity their ancient forms 





mi 


HHHBB? 

HP*. 




: ' : "'^rB 


B 

1 










THE SLAVS 179 

of speech, their customs and costumes. They are largely 
employed as agricultural labourers. 2 

The Southern Slavs are divided into Slovenes, Croats or 
Serbo-Croats, and Servians. The first of these, found 
chiefly in Lower Austria and Styria, and forming prac- 
tically the whole population of Carinthia, are the remains 
of the original Slav population of Central Europe, who 
for six centuries have been subjected to a steady pro- 
cess of Germanisation by their rulers. There was no cen- 
tre among these people for a nationalist propaganda, be- 
longing as they did for a long period to different Teutonic 
governments which were only finally united under the 
Habsburgs. Nor has the religious question played a great 
part. Protestantism made some converts and, as we have 
mentioned already, the Styrian nobility actually lost their 
lands en masse because of their adherence to the Reformed 
religion. But the steady orthodoxy of their rulers has 
made most of the Slovenes Roman Catholics, though side 
by side with the Latin communion the Greek church has 
its adherents among the Serbo-Croats and Servians. 

Croatia-Slavonia is the second of the two sections in- 
habited by a Slav race in Austria-Hungary which has a 
genuine national existence. Originally it was an inde- 
pendent and powerful Slav State, but was united to Hun- 
gary in 1090. From 1769 till 1799 Croatia, Slavonia and 
Dalmatia were united as the kingdom of Illyria, but after 
the break up of the Napoleonic empire Croatia-Slavonia 
was restored to a position of dependency on Hungary. 
From 1848 to 1868 the country enjoyed a practical inde- 

2 A further account of the Slovaks will be found in Chapter XIII. 



180 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

pendence, for services to Austria in the period of revolu- 
tion, but in the settlement of the Ausgleich it was once more 
handed back to Hungary and remained a province of that 
kingdom. 

The population is pure Slav, the language is Serbo- 
Croatian (practically the same as Servian with merely a 
difference as of dialects) the religion chiefly Roman 
Catholic, the Greek church claiming only thirty per cent. 
Here among these Serbo-Croatians we find the legacy of 
an ancient dispute between, the Eastern and Western 
churches, and this has been a disintegrating influence un- 
favourable to true national unity. The Servians who form 
part of the population represent emigrations from the old 
Servian kingdom at the time when it was conquered by the 
Turks, and consequently a close affinity exists between 
Croatia and Servia. But the influence of the Roman 
Catholic church, which accomplished the conversion of 
this part of the country, has been exerted to prevent the 
predominance of the Servian element and consequently 
that of the Greek church. The written character used is 
either Cyrillic or Latin, both being printed side by side in 
the grammars, but Latin is no longer used as a spoken 
language, as it was until about i860. After that time it 
was temporarily superseded by German, but when, in the 
settlement of 1868, Croatia was finally placed under Hun- 
garian control, German ceased altogether to be spoken 
save by the higher officials and merchants. The Hun- 
garians began with the attempt to make Magyar the lan- 
guage of official and social life, but the sense of the country 
and the local autonomy which it has always enjoyed make 
this difficult of accomplishment. 



THE SLAVS 181 

The historic rights claimed by Croatia-Slavonia are in 
fact a replica, on a smaller scale, of those successfully as- 
serted in the Ausgleich by Hungary. The Croats are 
proud that they were never conquered by the Turks, and 
they have always had their own governor or Ban (who 
is, however, a Hungarian noble), their national Diet, and 
a very considerable local autonomy. They send forty 
delegates to the Hungarian parliament, but this is not in 
proportion to their numbers, and the balance will un- 
doubtedly be altered by any scheme of suffrage reform 
that may be passed for the Dual Monarchy. The elec- 
tions are, as a matter of fact, often rather of a farcical char- 
acter. The voter is told to come to the polling booth at 
a certain time and then he will be shewn what to do. It 
is extremely doubtful, however, whether such an ignorant 
peasantry would really be well served at present by a 
scheme of universal suffrage or whether it would not be 
a weapon for the unscrupulous. In any case the condi- 
tions of life in Croatia are at present unfavourable to any 
rapid rise in the condition of the peasantry. They are in 
many ways attractive, unspoilt, and ingenuous. Physi- 
cally they are fine, tall, strong and clean-looking people, 
with steel-blue eyes and straight fair hair. The influence 
of the East is strongly noticeable in their white clothes, 
loosely fashioned and decorated with elaborate embroid- 
ery. Perhaps no other country of Europe has such beau- 
tiful peasant costumes, on which a wealth of stitchery has 
been expended to give beauty and value to the commonest 
fabrics. 

The old capital of the country, still its most important 



182 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

city, is Agram, which is not so interesting to the anti- 
quarian as its history leads one to expect, because it was 
partly destroyed by an earthquake in 1880 and has since 
been rebuilt. A fine .specimen of a real Croatian house 
(very similar to the Czech architecture) is to be seen at 
a Government model farm near Agram. The orna- 
mental gables, the carvings, the heavy wooden furniture, 
the characteristic fenced-in compound with a roofed en- 
trance (like the English lych-gate) are all comfortable 
adaptations of the old style. In the neighbourhood may 
be seen communal houses, still inhabited by several fami- 
lies, but the ancient Slav custom of communal build- 
ings to accommodate the whole village is now almost un- 
known, though the communistic tenure of land is still usual. 
On the outskirts of Croatia-Slavonia was that original 
strategic frontier which was held by military colonies which 
were in every way communistic, and lived in large houses 
common to all. 

Market-day at Agram is a most picturesque sight, gay 
with coloured embroideries on white garments, with bright 
shoes and rugs and the almost Eastern paraphernalia of 
open-air booths. The life of many of these peasants is 
poor and hard, and it is even said that in their houses some 
of the women wear nothing above their waists. But the 
Croat woman has a good reputation notwithstanding, and 
the hard life is said to produce in both sexes the virtues 
of patience, industry, and chastity. The men are honest, 
good-natured, and hardworking, and on this account have 
a good reputation as workmen, which they take with them 
to America. 



THE SLAVS 183 

There is a very small class of Croat aristocracy, for a 
great proportion of the original noble class have been 
dispossessed or wiped out in the course of Croatian his- 
tory. The military and officials form " Society," and 
the ambition of parents who can afford it is to get their 
sons into this class or to marry their daughters to a mem- 
ber of it. The pay of officials is very small and the career 
for a promising young man a poor one, while the life is 
monotonous and trifling. Small wonder that the volume 
of Croat migration is so large and is by no means con- 
fined to the poorest class. There are at present about 
270,000 Croats in the United States, and, curiously 
enough, they go chiefly to Pennsylvania, where they take 
well to the work in coal-mines or factories at Pittsburgh. 
They are lost forever to their country, for after the high 
wages and increased standard of living they can never 
return to the hard life of agricultural toil which the condi- 
tions of Croatia demand. The Croat country is in some 
ways a poor one, generally mountainous and inaccessible 
(the Hungarian railway-system has not yet embraced 
it), bare and unbeautiful, judged by conventional stand- 
ards. 

But the Croatians are a people of the soil — it is their 
mother, though a hard one — they have grit and back- 
bone, and a tradition which they proudly cherish. They 
had a very high degree of culture in the sixteenth century, 
when their students were well known in the universities of 
Padua and Pisa. They have now their own elementary 
schools and, although the exigencies of life under a foreign 
government make it difficult for them to preserve their 



i84 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

national distinction in secondary and higher education, yet 
the sentiment of Croatian patriotism is a living and grow- 
ing force and will not be denied. The language question 
will not be conceded by Hungary to an extent that will 
impair her sovereign rights, nor will she cease to work for 
the recognition, by all her subjects, of Hungarian nation- 
ality as opposed to the conflict of races. But even within 
these limits the Croatians may, with tact and forbearance 
on the part of their leaders, accomplish a renascence of their 
people. 

There is, of course, a party which demands the entire 
independence of Croatia, but they forget the weakness 
of their position from the geographical point of view, 
Although Croatia-Slavonia retains Fiume and a strip of 
coast within her boundaries (this being a concession to 
Hungary's demand for a port), Austria owns Dalmatia 
and the islands that fringe the coast. Moreover, by the 
occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina a wedge was driven 
between Croatia-Slavonia and Servia, and Novi-Bazaar 
(Turkish territory with an Austrian garrison) still further 
divides the Slav countries. The possibility of independent 
development for a country so poor as Croatia, and so com- 
pletely hemmed in by political adversaries, would not be 
very great, and the best possible course for the Croats is to 
endeavour to emulate the Czechs by improving the con- 
ditions and prospects of life among their peasants. 

These, then, are the principal features, the main prob- 
lems, which characterise the Slav races of Austria-Hungary. 
Each section is differentiated in some degree from the 
others, but it is possible to give, in a rough generalisation, 



THE SLAVS 185 

some of the salient characteristics which distinguish the 
Slav races from the Teutons and Magyars. 

Physically the Slavs are not marked out in any special 
manner. Education and convention may make them 
almost indistinguishable from the Teutonic races, but in 
the depths of their natures they have something hidden 
which makes them unlike any other European peoples. 
Perhaps this element may be best described as unreason. 
The Slav does not possess his own soul with the compla- 
cent, philosophic self-knowledge which comes to the Teu- 
ton; he is not even able to make a pose for himself behind 
which he can shelter his real ego, like the Latin. He is 
sensitive to an intense and painful degree, emotional, and 
inflicted with the artistic temperament to an excess. The 
last quality militates against his being truthful. He is 
essentially and unconsciously untruthful — a moral defect 
conquered in certain sections of the race by their educa- 
tion, but remaining in others in colossal proportions. The 
Slav is always spoken of as a fatalist and this is un- 
doubtedly the trend of his mind, but it is varied by an 
almost childish optimism. The peasantry of Slav origin, 
like most agricultural people, are subtle and cunning de- 
spite their simplicity. They have a worldly wisdom all 
their own and a philosophy of life as well. The tendency 
of the educated classes is to overdo their learning. They 
are apt to get top-heavy with their own brains, and their 
linguistic achievements tempt them to more reading than 
they can digest. 

The alternation of high spirits and despondency so 
well illustrated in Slav folk-music is not peculiar to the 



186 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Slavs, but the Latin races (who have the appearance of 
being quite as emotional) do not touch the depths which 
the Slav is forced to plumb. Also they are not inflicted 
with one fatal drawback of Slav character, the distrust of 
self. Readers of Turgenieff's brilliant studies of Slav 
psychology will remember how finely he brings out all 
these qualities. The love of abstract theory, the eloquence 
and enthusiasm, the interminable stream of talk, the hot 
heads that cool so quickly, the tenderness, imagination, 
and confusion of ideas — all that goes to make up the 
lovable, unpractical, and yet subtle Slav, are summed up 
in the title of one of his books — " Smoke." But there is 
no smoke without fire, and the Czech renascence — yes, and 
the renascence of Servia and Bulgaria, too — is not all 
smoke. There is a pure flame burning. And Europe 
is richer, and not poorer, that the Slav peoples have 
relighted the torch of nationality. 




HERZEGOVINA WOMAN IN HOLIDAY DRESS 



CHAPTER IX 

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA AND DALMATIA 

The political status of Bosnia-Herzegovina is only in- 
telligible by a reference to its geographical position. It 
will be seen that between the Dalmatian coast and the 
Save River, which is the southern boundary of the king- 
dom of Hungary, lies a wedge-shaped territory. This is 
still nominally the northwestern vilayet of the Ottoman 
empire, and owns the sovereignty of the Sultan; but since 
the Treaty of Berlin, in 1878, it has been occupied by an 
Austrian army and administered by the Dual Monarchy. 
Its position, therefore, resembles that of Egypt, and the 
Austrians claim for their first administrator, Baron Kal- 
lay, who governed the country for twenty years until his 
death a couple of years ago, a reputation equal to that 
of Lord Cromer. Kallay certainly accomplished a great 
deal in pacifying the country, and giving it some of the 
machinery of a modern civilised country. It is cut off 
from the rest of the Turkish provinces by Servia and 
Montenegro, between which is a narrow neck of land, 
the sanjak of Novi-Bazaar. The strategic importance 
of this region to both Austria and Turkey has led to an 
anomalous situation there, whereby Turkey still retains 
the civil administration while Austria occupies it with a 
militiary force. 

187 



1 88 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

The mountainous and picturesque country of Bosnia, 
with Herzegovina lying to the south and bordering Mon- 
tenegro, is a very interesting region from many points of 
view. Its history is intimately linked with that of the 
other Balkan states, but has some peculiar features. 
Chief of these was the religious conviction of the majority 
of its people, high and low, in the period which preceded 
the Mohammedan conquest. They belonged to the Pa- 
tarine sect, Otherwise called Bogomile, which appears to 
have been one of a series of heretical religions which ex- 
tended from Armenia to Aquitaine, and included the 
Albigenses on one extreme and the Paulicians on the other. 
Both Greek and Latin churches viewed this heresy with 
horror and considered it Manichoeism. The Franciscans 
in particular worked hard to suppress it, and some of the 
Bosnian rulers became Catholics. The result was to 
hasten the fall of the country before the Turks, for the 
Bosnians made no secret that they regarded Islam as 
preferable to Catholicism, and in 141 5 a number of them 
actually were Turcised and fought with the Turks against 
Hungary. The political and religious questions were 
then, as now, much interwoven. The Bosnian kings were 
feudatories of Hungary, and the country at present called 
Herzegovina was a vassal state under a duke, 1 who was 
faithful to the Bogomile tenets. After the death of John 
Hunyady of Hungary, in 1458, only one great leader re- 
mained to bulwark Christianity against the Turk, and this 
was the famous Albanian George Castriotes, known, be- 

1 The Emperor gave the voivode the title of Duke=Herzog ; hence 
" Herzegovina," meaning " Duchy." 




BOSNIA PEASANT HOUSE 




BOGOMILE TOMB 



BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 189 

cause of his Turkish upbringing, as Scanderbeg. While 
he lived, this corner of the Balkans was successfully de- 
fended from the Ottomans, and even on his death Mon- 
tenegro kept one spot inviolate and one line of Slavonic 
princes free from Turkish yoke. But Servia had fallen 
in 1457, the catastrophe hastened by the dissatisfaction 
of the nobles with the interference by Catholic powers, 
which their ruler had sought for protection. It is said 
that, after 1458, 200,000 Servians were carried from the 
land, probably to be settled in other parts of the empire. 
Then came the turn of Bosnia, which (with Herzegovina) 
had attempted to secure immunity from attack by offering 
tribute. Again, the Bogomiles preferred the Turks to 
Catholic rulers, and the royal residence was betrayed by 
its defender, who secretly belonged to the national reli- 
gion. Mohammed I. wished to be the absolute ruler of the 
Balkans, no mere suzerain of Christian states, and his 
policy was to exterminate the native rulers and princes, 
and to carry as many captives as possible to other parts of 
his dominions. The racial confusion of the Balkan penin- 
sula, in which his decendants are now reaping such a 
harvest of difficulties, may partially be traced to this policy, 
but the immediate effect was to paralyse the national life 
of the country and render it amenable to Ottoman rule, 
which was not particularly oppressive. King Mathias 
Corvinus of Hungary tried to rescue Bosnia, and was 
temporarily successful, but only for a brief time. The 
country became definitely part of the Ottoman empire, 
and Herzegovina was added in 1483, by which time only 
two Slavonic powers in the Balkan peninsula retained 



igo THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

their freedom. These were the republic of Ragusa and 
the principality of Montenegro. 

The close kinship between Bosnia and Servia — both 
part of one great Servian empire until that ill-consolidated 
state collapsed after the death of Stephen Dusan in 1356 
— gives a special interest to the modern history of the 
former country. Servia has regained national conscious- 
ness, and has emerged as a modern Christian state. Is 
such a renascence possible for Bosnia? The peasantry 
are still purely Slav in race, the Turkish element (even 
where the Slavs are Moslems) being clearly distinguish- 
able. Their language is Serbo-Croat, albeit corrupted with 
Turkish words. But the impression gained from an 
observation of them is that, unlike the Servians, they have 
taken the stamp of Orientalism deep on their minds and 
hearts. The peculiar conditions under which they ac- 
cepted the Turkish yoke, and the extent to which the Bogo- 
miles embraced Islam, have had the effect of destroying 
their national and racial pride to a greater extent than 
has been the case in Servia. The dissension between the 
Christian churches here, as in other parts of the Balkan 
peninsula, stands in the way of a national and religious 
unity of purpose, and the line of cleavage between the dif- 
ferent parties among the people is not so much racial or 
religious as sectional. 

The portion of the community which is not Moham- 
medan is divided between the Latin and Greek churches, 
the former claiming about one-fifth, who are called Croats, 
and the latter, known as Servians, about one-half of the 
total population. The rivalry of the churches in the 



BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 191 

matter of " conversions " is keen and (as in other Balkan 
states) the same family may contain people nominally of 
two or three different races and religions. 

The rocky and difficult nature of the country has helped 
to make it a battle-ground of the Turks and their Euro- 
pean opponents for centuries, and it was only by the peace 
of Sistova, in 1791, that a period of repose was secured. 
When in 1878 the Turks agreed to military occupation 
by Austria the latter had to meet an obstinate resistance 
from the people, who in their mountain fastnesses were/^^ 
able to make a long defence, even against trained armies. 
Naturally a country so given over to warfare has remained 
backward in many elements of civilization, and even agri- 
culture, which occupies nearly ninety per cent, of the 
people, is primitive in its methods. 

Here again, as in Croatia, was an early civilisation, 
and there are interesting remains of the Roman occupation. 
The scenery as one travels from Ragusa to Mostar, and 
thence still north to Sarajevo, is some of the finest to be 
seen on any railway line in the world. The line runs 
along the beautiful and romantic valley of the Narenta, 
then over the pass of the Ivan-Planina (a fine piece of 
engineering) , and so on through the mountains that form 
the watershed of the Adriatic to the capital of Bosnia — 
Sarajevo — with its glittering minarets and mosques and 
flat-roofed houses set in gardens, the whole backed by 
lofty ranges behind which the sun sets, casting long rays 
of gold and purple down the wooded slopes. 

Here, as in Mostar, the Austrian occupation has put 
a thin veneer of Europe over the imperishable East. The 



1/ 



192 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

result is somewhat to accentuate the picturesqueness of 
the latter at the expense of the former, but one has to 
confess one's debt of comfort in the way of railways and 
hotels, however indifferent the latter may be. 

The successors of the Turks have built barracks (possi- 
bly sanitary, but ugly and hot-looking), opened technical 
schools, introduced cafes, made experimental farms and 
constructed a variety of large and hideous Government 
offices, besides studding the country with forts. What 
they have accomplished in making roads and railways 
and in establishing a fine police force is the most ad- 
mirable part of their work, but naturally the first two 
are not so much designed to develop the country as for 
strategic purposes. A railway, it may be mentioned, has 
recently been constructed from Sarajevo to the frontier 
of Novi-Bazaar. 

Nor have the Austrians forgotten to attempt (at all 
events) educative work among the better class people. 
They have founded colleges for young mullahs and a law- 
seminary for the kadis. It is interesting to notice that 
the muftis of the mosques, who have always been ap- 
pointed by the Sultan, must now (since 1882) be confirmed 
in their position by the Emperor of Austria. 

The costumes of the peasants, like those of all the Slav 
races, are as varied as they are picturesque. There are 
different styles for each valley, and Oriental influence has 
produced many beautiful designs in embroidery and metal- 
work which are applied to dresses, carpets and utensils. 
The poverty of the people makes it difficult for them to 
indulge their natural taste, but the general effect of a 



BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 193 

gathering of peasants is gay and picturesque. Many, of 
course, wear the distinctive Turkish dress, and their 
women (in the towns at all events) are veiled, but among 
the Catholic and Orthodox the old Slav styles of costume 
and headdress survive. On a holiday or market-day one 
may see the " kolo," a national dance, danced by the 
Servians. The better class dance in a circle of their own, 
the ladies in evening dress, but the true dance is best seen 
among the peasants. Hand in hand, men and women 
move round in a circle, swaying to and fro, keeping up a 
monotonous chant and continuing this singular form of 
amusement literally for hours. It is curiously unlike the 
usual European conception of dancing. 

A very interesting field of speculation is opened by the 
conditions of Bosnia-Herzegovina, where for the last quar- 
ter of a century European influence has been at work in a 
country originally European which has been for over four 
centuries under Moslem rule. The experiment is still 
young, but judging from the experience of other European 
administrators of Oriental countries, Austria's task is no 
easy one. The five and twenty years of Austrian occupa- 
tion has not, in Sarajevo, the capital, done more than place 
a surface crust over the lives of the people. Even here 
one may turn out of one's modern hotel and in a few steps 
enter the bazaar — that labyrinth of lanes, flanked with 
wooden booths in front of stone buildings. Here is no 
trace of the West. The barber plies his trade; the shoe- 
maker displays his peaked slippers of red or yellow and 
patches his customers' worn goods, spectacles on nose; the 
silver and copper smith has his little furnace and apparatus 



%c&( 



l^ 



194 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

of primitive simplicity; the tailor sits cross-legged on his 
bench, and the sweetmeat-seller greets one's nostrils with 
the odour of ghee, to be smelt a long way off. Most 
characteristic of all is the be-turbaned old greybeard, 
seated cross-legged before his door, smoking sedately 
and imperturbably his cigarette or long hookah and 
surveying the world with the indifference of age-long 
philosophy. Through the murmur of sounds that fills 
the heavy air laden with the many smells of an Oriental 
bazaar comes a familiar clang — the importunate jangling 
of the bell of an electric train which glides along near by 
in vivid contrast to this bit of the old world. 

The policy of the Austrians is to attempt to break down 
the race tradition as far as possible, and they take a certain 
number of Bosnians, both Christians and Turks, into their 
government offices, while the soldiers recruited in Bosnia 
are drafted to regiments quartered at Graz, Vienna or 
Budapest. 

What do the people think of Austrian rule? What 
did they think of their former rulers, the Turks, or of any 
rule save their own? Under four centuries of Ottoman 
domination they undoubtedly absorbed enough of the 
patient resignation of the Oriental to be philosophical 
under the features of misrule peculiar to Oriental gov- 
ernments, but a more active and systematic method of 
government is likely to arouse definite opposition. Tax- 
ation, they complain, bears heavily, and the price paid for 
Austrian order is too great — Turkish disorder was prefer- 
able. Then, the usual complaint of the Oriental under 
European domination. There is no longer any flavour in 




SLIPPER SELLER, SARAJEVO 




ROASTING LAMBS, BOSNIA 



BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 195 

life; no risks, no chances, and no gambling with Fate, no 
possibilities of a career founded on nothing more than 
skill and tact — nothing but the bare facts of a bureau- 
cracy bound hand and foot with red-tape and a peasantry 
compelled to pay taxes. 

With the usual adaptability of the Slav race the Bos- 
nians, employed by the Government in tobacco-factories, 
have already varied the monotony by strikes, adopting 
the weapons of a different phase of development for lack 
of better. The appearance of the Bosnians impresses one 
favourably. They have the fine bearing of a mountain 
people, and the open countenances and square look in the 
eyes which one hardly expects from a race with their 
history of subjection. The women are often very hand- 
some, and both sexes have a bright intelligent look and 
are said to have excellent mental capacity. The Bosnians 
naturally make good soldiers and there are native regi- 
ments totalling some seven thousand men. Conscription 
for the Austro-Hungarian army is on the same footing as 
in Austria, and, as we have said already, the attempt is 
made by associating the conscript with regimental com- 
panies from other parts of the Dual Monarchy to cure 
him of a too narrow and local patriotism. 

Dalmatia is a crown-land of Austria, and consists of 
little more than a montainous fringe and a long string 
of (comparatively) barren islands. Yet the importance of 
this region in history shews that it must have some stra- 
tegic advantages, and, in fact, its position on the coast of 
the Adriatic makes it essential to the region of Central 
Europe which is cut off in every other quarter from the 



ig6 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

sea. Here again we have the Slav population contending 
with an alien race and civilisation, and the tenacity with 
which they have held their own is the more remarkable 
because in this case it was the tide of Latin and Italian 
influence which they have had to combat. The people 
are, like the Bosnians and Croato-Slavonians, Serbo-Croats, 
a compound name which indicates not so much two races 
as two forms of Christianity. The Italian element is 
strong, especially in some of the towns, like Trieste or 
Zara, and there is a continual conflict between the national 
(Slav) party and that of the Italians. The costumes of 
the Dalmatians and their fine personal appearance make 
them very attractive, and it is curious to trace the warring 
influences of East and West in their dresses, which are as 
much Turkish as Italian or Slav. 

No part of the Austrian lands has a more varied his- 
tory than this coast of the Adriatic, which was an inde- 
pendent kingdom before Augustus annexed it to the 
province of Illyricum. Then came Goths, Avars, and a 
Slav dominion which lasted for five centuries, and when in 
the twelfth century the kingdom of Hungary conquered 
part of it, the rest, forming the duchy of Dalmatia, came 
under the suzerainty of the Venetian republic, from whom 
it was partially wrested by the Turks some three centuries 
later. Then Dalmatia was ceded entirely to Venice in 
171 8, in 1797 was handed to Austria, in 1805 became 
part of Italy, in 18 10 formed part of the Napoleonic 
"kingdom of Illyria," and since 18 14 has once more 
been placed under Austria. It has, in fact, been a pawn 
in the game played by the Powers, for in all these trans- 



DALMATIA 197 

actions Dalmatia itself has been more or less passive. 
One part of it has, however, a record of independence only 
broken when Napoleon conquered it in 1806, and that is 
Ragusa, the ancient town which once was the centre of a 
republic, small in fact but great in historical tradition. 
As early as the fourteenth century Ragusa was a flourish- 
ing town and the centre of a civilisation far ahead of any 
contemporary in Germany or even Italy. In this beautiful 
coast town, lying picturesquely at the foot and on the 
slopes of Mt. Sergio, there were schools and colleges of 
European renown. Here poets sang and philosophers 
taught, and students came even from Germany to listen 
to them. There is a quaint old-world air about the sleepy 
town to-day, but little to remind one that it was once the 
seat of learning or the centre of a busy trade, and that its 
harbour was full of vessels and its markets of merchants. 
It lies in the broad sunshine, its white buildings contrasting 
with the green of foliage and brilliant hues of the flower- 
gardens that surround its villas, the deep blue Adriatic 
beating against its rocky shore. In many respects Ragusa 
is the most beautiful city of the Adriatic, though it is hard 
to realise that this sleepy, shut-in, little, old town ever 
played a great part in history. Since the conquest by 
Napoleon Ragusa has followed the fortunes of the rest 
of Dalmatia, and it is to-day under Austrian rule, though 
there is little to shew that any living force is at work. 

An Adriatic coast town of a different character is 
Trieste, which has also a long history, but, unlike Ra- 
gusa, lives very keenly in the present. It is practically 
the one sea-port of Austria, Fiume being the only one of 



198 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Hungary; and these two divide the Austro-Hungarian 
trade. The Emperor Charles VI. made Trieste a free 
port in 1 7 19, but it is not free since 1891 and only the new 
harbour is outside the customs limit. Austria has spent 
a good deal of money on improvements and continues to 
enlarge the accommodation for ships. The position of 
Trieste, at the head of the Adriatic and close to the Italian 
frontier, is of great importance in relation to the political 
situation, and it is no secret that the control of this key 
of the Adriatic, the nearest coast town and harbour for 
Central Europe, is the subject of many chauvinist designs 
on the part of Italy and Germany. It is, however, ab- 
solutely essential to Austria, nor would it be convenient 
for Hungary to see it converted into a rival port, in the 
hands of a powerful neighbour and possible commercial 
opponent. 

At Pola, on the point of the Istrian peninsula, is the 
Austrian naval station. It still contains magnificent re- 
mains of the Roman days when it was an important 
place, though the constant dispute for its possession by 
the Genoese and Venetians led to much destruction of 
the ancient town. Like the rest of Dalmatia, it passed 
into Austrian hands after the Napoleonic war. 

The salient features of the Dalmatian province are, 
first, the historical traditions, a modern administration 
built up on the ruins of ancient kingdoms and republics; 
second, the eternal race conflict, in which the substratum 
of Slavs are now shewing renewed vitality. In another 
place we have mentioned the influence of the French occu- 
pation during the brief " kingdom of Illyria " period in 




STREET SCENE, RAGUSA 



DALMATIA 199 

reviving native sentiment. The reawakened feeling has 
not died out, and the result is that the predominance of 
the Italian element is being slowly but surely reduced. 
Whither this revived national sentiment is leading the 
Slavs of Dalmatia it is hard to say, but for the present 
they contend chiefly for control of their provincial Diet and 
local and municipal governments, and for the privilege 
of sending as many as possible of the eleven members who 
represent them in the Reichsrath. 2 

The future of these two territories, Bosnia-Herzego- 
vina and Dalmatia, is involved not only with that of the 
Dual Monarchy but with that of the Balkan States and 
Italy. No portion of the Habsburg domains is fuller of 
interest, and none presents more difficulties of racial, reli- 
gious and political development than these lands bordering 
the blue Adriatic. 

2 In the summer of 1906 serious riots occurred between the Serbo-Croatian 
and Italian elements in Dalmatia and Croatia. A gathering of sokols (gymnas- 
tic societies from different Slavonic lands), held at Agram, was the signal for 
displays of Slav nationalism which aroused the ire of the Latin population; 
outrages were committed and street fighting took place, order only being re- 
stored by the military. 



CHAPTER X 

STATE ORGANISATION 

That there is a considerable degree of misconception as 
to the actual constitution of Austria-Hungary is plain 
from the errors in terminology which one meets in the 
writings of well-informed people as well as in ordinary 
conversation. The expression, " Austrian empire," fre- 
quently applied to the two countries of Austria and Hun- 
gary with their dependencies, is the most common of these 
mistakes. There are English maps which bear this legend 
printed right across Central Erope. It is therefore neces- 
sary to begin at the beginning, in order to explain the or- 
ganisation of the Dual Monarchy as a state. 

There is an Austrian empire and an Austrian emperor 
— emperor by virtue of his descent from a long Imperial 
line, though the empire over which his predecessors ruled 
was different in character and extent to the dominions over 
which he holds sway to-day. Austria itself is only one 
part of those dominions, but it is the centre round which 
others are grouped and gives its Imperial name to certain 
erstwhile independent kingdoms, duchies, and counties 
now under the rule of the house of Habsburg. There 
are seventeen of these " crown lands," called generically 
provinces, 1 each having a provincial Diet or local par- 
liament and a certain degree of autonomy and all sending 

200 



STATE ORGANISATION 201 

representatives to the Austrian imperial parliament or 
Reichsrath. 2 

While these provinces are collectively termed Austria, 
just as the French provinces make France, yet the Aus- 
trian emperor must de facto assume all the titles connected 
with each division in order to establish his claim on them. 
Thus he is king of Bohemia, Dalmatia, and Galicia; 
archduke of Lower and Upper Austria; duke of Styria, 
Carinthia, etc.; count of the Tryol, etc. Bohemia claims 
independence for herself and for the lands belonging 
to the Bohemian crown by reason of her historical constitu- 
tional rights. Her claim is to be an independent country 
with a separate constitution under the kingship of the "J *-,*./ 
Austrian emperor. At present, however, the Emperor ""^^^f 
Francis Joseph has never consented to a coronation in 
Prague, which would involve the recognition of Bohemia 
as not a province, but an allied, independent state, and she 
remains a province of Austria. 

The kingdom of Hungary is not a province of Aus- 
tria — a disclaimer which may seem unnecessary to many 
people, but which is, in fact, justified by the misconceptions 
which prevail. It is very usual for Hungary to be com- 

1 Kingdoms Carinthia 

Bohemia, Galicia and Dalmatia Carniola 

Margraviates Silesia 

Moravia and Istria Bukowina 

Arch-Duchies " Land " sim Ph 

Upper Austria Vorarlberg 

Lower Austria Counties, raised to Principalities 

Duchies Gorz-Gradiska and Tyrol 

Salzburg Special Crown Land 

Styria Trieste and District 



202 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

pared to Ireland, in its relations to an alien king, but the 
comparison is misleading. In traits of character, and in 
some degree in economic conditions, there is a likeness 
between the two countries, but their constitutional posi- 
tion is totally different. Hungary is, and always has 
been, an independent sovereign state governed by rulers 
whose authority has of necessity been recognised by her 
Estates. The basis of the connection with Austria is the 
fact that the reigning house of Austria is also the reigning 
house of Hungary, and this personal link has brought about 
a close political and commercial union. At the same time 
since 1867 the two monarchies have been organised as one 
state for certain purposes, and this union is not casual nor 
mechanical but is founded on a constitution promulgated 
by their common ruler and recognised by their Estates. 

Both in Austria and Hungary the crown is hereditary 
in the house of Habsburg-Lorraine, and the monarch must 
be a member of the Roman Catholic Church. His official 
titles are Emperor of Austria and Apostolic king of Hun- 
gary, and the correct style of his dominions is the " Austro- 
Hungarian monarchy." It is obviously incorrect to speak 
of the Austro-Hungarian empire, because Hungary is 
neither an empire nor part of an empire. It has become 
usual in text books to adopt a division of the dual mon- 
archy into two parts, and to call these " Cisleithania and 
Transleithania," that is, the lands west and east of 
the river Leitha, roughly Austria and Hungary. This 
nomenclature, however, does not appear to have any au- 
thority, and it obscures the actual facts of the case and is 
obnoxious to Hungarians, because it has the appearance 



STATE ORGANISATION 203 

of making them part of an Austrian empire. Lest this be 
thought a far-fetched objection it may be worth while to 
quote from an otherwise admirable book of reference, 
the last edition of Baedeker, " The Leitha is here the 
boundary between Austria and Hungary, dividing the 
empire into Cisleithania and Transleithania." 

We have already traced the historical genesis of the 
Dual Monarchy, and explained the circumstances that led 
up to the reorganisation of its political relations which 
took place in the Ausgleich of 1867. The subject is, 
however, so complicated that it may be well (at the risk 
of repetition) to give here the salient features in that 
compact. The entire independence of the two states and 
the hereditary claims of the house of Habsburg-Lorraine 
on both being recognised, a certain number of affairs were 
placed for mutual advantage under joint control. These 
common affairs are (1) Foreign relations; (2) Military 
and naval affairs connected with common defence (each 
country has, besides, its own independent military depart- 
ment) ; (3) Finance relating to common affairs. The 
operations of these joint departments are explained in 
more detail later on, and it need only be said here that 
they are dependent on the bodies in Austria and Hungary, 
which have the power of voting money for joint expendi- 
ture. This money is controlled by what are known 
as the two Delegations, each composed of sixty members 
chosen from the parliaments of the two countries and 
appointed for one year. These Delegations, which form 
the parliamentary organ of the Dual Monarchy as a 
whole, meet alternately at Vienna and Budapest every 



204 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

year and deliberate independently, their decisions being 
communicated to each other in writing. If a mutual 
agreement cannot be arrived at, the Delegations, or an 
equal number of their members from either side, meet and 
vote on the question without discussion. It is notorious 
that the power of producing a deadlock in the affairs of 
the country is a weapon which has been used without 
scruple to secure party ends. 

This political union is theoretically permanent and 
forms, indeed, a part of the Constitution. There is, how- 
ever, a commercial union which has to be renewed by 
mutual agreement at intervals of ten years. The two states 
form practically one territory for customs and commerce; 
they have the same coinage, weights, and measures, and a 
joint bank. The agreement on which the continuance of 
this state of affairs depends was renewable in 1897, but for 
purposes of political obstruction the necessary consent was 
withheld and the situation had to be met by a provisional 
arrangement, by which the emperor, exercising his pre- 
rogatives, prolonged the duration of the agreement. 

We have seen that the Austrian provinces enjoy a 
considerable degree of autonomy exercised through the 
medium of the provincial diets. These diets are, in prin- 
ciple, representative of the people, but the preponderance 
given to the landed and monied interest precludes any 
representation in the democratic sense of the word. The 
present electoral basis secures this state of affairs, but 
the granting of universal suffrage, now under considera- 
tion, will undoubtedly cause a great upheaval of the present 
system. The constitution of the provincial diets is, in 



STATE ORGANISATION 205 

fact, a smaller replica (with only one house) of the 
Reichsrathor Austrian parliament, and the briefest descrip- 
tion of the latter will therefore suffice. 

There are in the Austrian (as in the British) parlia- 
ment two houses, the first hereditary and the second 
elective. The upper house includes all Imperial princes 
who are of age, a number of hereditary nobles possessing 
large landed property, a certain number of princes of the 
Church (prince-bishops and archbishops), and life mem- 
bers nominated by the Emperor for services to Church or 
State or distinguished in art or science. 

The lower house consists of members elected, partly 
directly and partly indirectly, by the votes of all citizens 
twenty-four years of age and possessing certain small 
property and personal qualifications. It is not, in fact, 
so much the electoral qualification as the classification of 
voters which constitutes the advantage obtained by a sec- 
tion of the population. By a careful gerrymandering the 
landed proprietors, the towns, and the chambers of trade 
and commerce, obtain a preponderance in the Reichsrath 
which is out of proportion to the numerical strength of 
their supporters. As the whole of this system, which has 
given rise to great discontent, will be revised by the Bill 
passed in December, 1906, it need not be discussed in detail, 
but it must be noted that the preponderance in Austria and 
Bohemia of the German element in the towns and com- 
merce, and also the strong conservative element in the 
Church and among the large landed proprietors, have 
hitherto been favourable to the preservation of German 
influence and interests. 



r 



2o6 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

The Hungarian half of the Dual Monarchy has a Con- 
stitution different in many respects from that of Austria 
and dating back to 1222. This Constitution was frequently 
disregarded, but the only period in which it can be said 
to have been really in suspension was that following the 
abortive revolution of 1849. ^ n !867, however, it was 
reaffirmed and established by the coronation-oath of Fran- 
cis Joseph. Hungary was established first as an aristo- 
cratic monarchy, and the historic chamber of its govern- 
mental system is the House of Magnates, originally the 
" Table," the true constitutional assembly of the Magyars. 
Although the crown is hereditary, the consent of the Mag- 
nates has always been considered essential to the legal 
position of the sovereign. Since 1885 this House of 
Lords has been reformed, and now includes, besides the 
great nobles in whose families the dignity is hereditary, 
a number of Church dignitaries of the Roman Catholic, 
Greek, and Protestant Churches. There are also life- 
peers appointed by the crown and others appointed by 
the house itself, and the high judges and officials of 
State are, ex officio, members of this house. Besides all 
these, there are three members who are delegates from 
Croatia-Slavonia. 

The lower (representative) house is elected on a lower 
suffrage qualification than in Austria, and in the case of 
professional, scientific or learned classes without any but 
the requisite age qualification. 

The elections take place every five years and parlia- 
ment meets annually at Budapest, Magyar being the 
language spoken, though the Croatian-Serbs may use their 



STATE ORGANISATION 207 

own tongue. Members are paid £200 a year, with an 
allowance for house-rent. In Austria, it may be men- 
tioned, they get only 16s. 8d. for each day's attendance, 
with travelling expenses. 

The system of local government is based on the com- 
mune as the unit of administration, and all males over 
twenty who pay the State taxes have electoral rights within 
their commune. In Croatia-Slavonia each county has an 
assembly similar to the local representative bodies of Hun- 
gary, and this country has also a national Diet and au- 
tonomy for home affairs, public instruction and justice. 
At the head of this autonomous provincial Diet, and 
responsible both to it and to the Hungarian prime min- 
ister is the Ban of Croatia, who, nowadays, is a Hungarian 
noble. 

The parliamentary system of the Dual Monarchy differs 
in some points from that of Great Britain, and notably in 
the position of the sovereign. In our country the defeat 
of a political party entails upon the King the duty of in- 
viting the one of the leaders of the party which has secured 
a majority to form a new ministry, and the Prime Min- 
ister is responsible to his party and must follow the policy 
and traditions of that party. In Austria and Hungary 
the emperor selects a prime minister and entrusts him 
with the task of getting a party together with a sufficient 
majority to get its policy through. The prime minister 
in this case is responsible to the sovereign, whose policy 
he has undertaken (more or less) to put through. It is 
obvious, therefore, that the personal influence of the sov- 
ereign is a very important factor, and also that the 



208 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

situation is one that specially favours the continuance of 
small political parties and the rise of the smaller nation- 
alities. Though relatively small in number, a united 
party, like the Poles of Galicia, for instance, can secure 
great concessions at critical moments by the weight they 
are able to throw into the scale. We have a similar phe- 
nomenon (quite at variance with the true traditions of 
parliamentary party government) in our own Irish party, 
but Austria and Hungary have each not one but several 
Irelands to contend with. 

No sketch, however incomplete, of the administration 
of Austria-Hungary could fail to notice the prevalence 
of that objectionable feature known as red-tape. This 
is specially pronounced in Austria, where the machine is 
a very old and complicated one, but Hungary has not 
escaped the taint, and the whole administration of the 
monarchy is complex and elaborate in the extreme. As 
in Russia, Germany, Italy, and France, the position occu- 
pied by the functionaries of the State, down to the hum- 
blest of street officials, is hedged round with a kind of 
divinity. The British and American public, who regard 
the officers of the State as their servants and not their 
masters, may consider this objectionable, but in a country 
so full of discordant elements as Austria-Hungary it is 
peculiarly necessary to uphold the majesty of the law. It 
is sometimes stated that the police abuse their privileged 
position and that brutality and corruption are as rife here 
as in Russia, but due allowance has to be made for a 
country which is only just emerging from a reign of 
absolutism. 




JEWISH TYPES, GALICIA 




RUTHENIANS, FROM CRACOW 



STATE ORGANISATION 209 

There are certainly regulations which, designed for the 
protection of the community, are a restriction on the lib- 
erty of the individual. Such is the law of Schubmesen, 
whereby it is enacted that a person without means of sub- 
sistence should be sent to the commune in which he was 
born. 

Then in Austria the workman must carry a certifi- 
cate of his place of domicile and a book in which the 
record of his work is shewn, and other formalities must be 
complied with which, in the hands of petty officials, may 
be made a source of irritation or oppression. These 
provisions, however, are not to be criticised as peculiar to 
the Austrian system, since they are in fact identical with 
those found in the most modern and progressive industrial 
centres — for instance, in Berlin — and side by side with the 
most advanced socialist propaganda. A little while ago 
a party of superior mechanics from Birmingham paid a 
visit to some fellow-workmen in Berlin, and in comparing 
their lot with those of their German fellows they remarked 
that the discipline inflicted on the latter (from military 
service downwards) appeared to have the effect of mak- 
ing them healthier, richer, and happier than their untram- 
melled contemporaries in England. 

It is not advisable, therefore, to pass judgment too 
hastily on any continental system, but in the administration 
of the system it is possible to detect serious defects. These 
are almost invariably due in Austria to red-tape. The 
lack of originality and initiative which are apparent in the 
educated Austrian are increased tenfold by an official train- 
ing. From the court, with its wearisome and elaborate 



210 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

etiquette, down to the merest municipal offices, everyone 
is so weighted with rules, regulations and traditions, books 
of reference and precedent that it seems impossible to 
move them out of the narrow groove in which their minds 
are set. 

An almost incredible incident of bureaucratic red tape 
occurred some little time ago in connection with a minor 
railway official. It must be premised that every station 
master must fill in elaborate returns of all the traffic, place 
of origin and destination, character, bulk, etc., and after 
a day's hard labour the busy man of all work on a small 
station is not too particular about his " returns " so long 
as they are plausible. On these figures are built up an 
elaborate superstructure of statistics, demonstrating the 
most undemonstrable facts with the clearness and convinc- 
ing force customary with such documents. The story is 
concerned with one of these busy officials who, in supply- 
ing material for such heavy artillery, was so unfortunate 
as to traverse some of the regulations. He was haled be- 
fore a committee of inquiry, when his advocate appeared 
followed by a stout porter staggering under the load of 
thirty heavy volumes. The advocate arranged these be- 
fore him and said, " Gentlemen, the regulation my client 
has infringed is contained in one of these volumes. He is 
still a young man. I have nothing more to say." Re- 
sult, acquittal ! 

The Italians used to have a saying regarding the Aus- 
trians which dates from the early days of the occupation 
by the latter of north Italy. They say the Austrians are 
a people " che vogliano la carta " — " always want paper," 



STATE ORGANISATION 211 

and the criticism is almost equally applicable to the 
Hungarians. 

All government employes, even for the lower grades, 
must have a complete Realschule or Gymnasium education, 
and unless they have passed the examination which en- 
titles them to enter the university, their chances of promo- 
tion are slight. Except for the natural operation of 
favouritism there is no distinction, social or otherwise, in 
the appointments. An excellent provision is that by which 
the lower civil services (copying clerks, porters, postmen, 
and minor post and telegraph officials, etc.) are given 
to men (non-commissioned officers particularly) of the 
Honved (Hungarian army) and Landwehr (Austrian 
militia) who have been twelve years with the colours. 

Besides the ordinary police, there is a secret service or 
" Staats " police, and the functions of this body, so repul- 
sive in principle to Britons and Americans, need some 
explanation. After 1848, during the period of absolutism 
which was directed by Metternich, Austria and Hungary 
were permeated by the secret police, and it is true that a 
tyranny was established by means of the information they 
were able to acquire. But the transformation of not only 
Hungary but Austria also into constitutional states has 
been accomplished, and the permeation of liberal ideas 
has made inevitable the gradual restriction of the functions 
of the secret police. They are now employed, undoubt- 
edly, partly for political and partly for criminal investiga- 
tions, and also to carry out the system by which each citizen 
is personally under the observation of the law, but it is 
not necessary to construe this into an interference with 



212 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

private liberty; it is rather in the nature of a preventive 
measure, which the democratic countries where every 
man is his own keeper do not deem necessary. In one 
respect this supervision is necessary to the military organ- 
isation of the county, for it is necessary to keep in touch 
with all the Reserve officers in case of mobilisation. The 
real evil, if there is an evil, lies not in any special feature of 
the system, but in the system itself, and (as our Birming- 
ham mechanic pointed out) even the extremes of bu- 
reaucracy may have their advantages. It is, however, 
incontestable that the development of a bureaucratic sys- 
tem is favourable to the growth of red tape, and that both 
are frequently the cause of inconvenience, or even worse, 
while the multiplication of petty functionaries creates a 
class of men whose chief business in life is to make work. 

We must now turn to another side of Austro-Hungarian 
administration and one which is of the deepest political, as 
well as economic, importance — the finances of the two 
countries. 

The story of the national finances of Austria is a 
chequered and often melancholy one. It is of course im- 
possible to trace it in any detail, or to go, back to any 
remote period. In 1812 there was practically a State 
bankruptcy, caused partially no doubt by the drain of the 
Napoleonic wars, but also due to a long period of State 
improvidence. For a hundred years paper money was 
cours-force, and at the end of the eighteenth century the 
State began to issue, without the intermediary of banks, 
notes which were called " banco zettel." This paper de- 
preciated in value until in 18 10 the Treasury fixed the 



STATE ORGANISATION 213 

rate of exchange at which the notes could be accepted (at 
one-fifth of their face value) for other notes which were 
called " retreats." But even this was not the lowest depth 
reached by the paper currency, since the notes given for the 
"banco zettel " were in 18 13 exchanged for anticipatory 
notes, so called because they were to be guaranteed and 
exchanged at a later date on the security of certain taxes 
yet to be levied. The depreciation in this paper money 
was, later on, limited by law to 60 per cent., but not even 
this liberal margin covered the actual loss. It became 
apparent that some strenuous effort must be made to 
save the situation, and the Austrian National Bank was 
founded, with privileges and concessions from the State. 
The " retreat " and " anticipatory " notes were destroyed 
and exchanged for bonds ("obligations") or for notes 
issued by the bank. 

In 1839 there were still in currency 135 millions of old 
State paper notes {cours-force) and these constantly depre- 
ciated, having to pay a premium on metal, as the bank- 
notes could be exchanged against specie at par. This 
state of affairs continued until in 1848 the bank ad- 
vanced important sums to the State in notes. The calls 
made by the State upon the resources of the bank ham- 
pered the operations of the latter, and commerce and 
industries suffered in consequence. Moreover, the care- 
less administration of the State finances brought about a 
depreciation in the value even of the bank paper, and in 
1848 the situation was aggravated by the decreeing of 
cours-force for banknotes. 

In 1855 there was a general breakdown in the Austrian 



214 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

finances, a state of affairs which was largely instrumental 
in deciding the Emperor to grant constitutional rights to 
his subjects. In the October patent of i860, and still 
more in the February charter of 1861, the control of 
finances and issue of new loans were among the first pre- 
rogatives of Parliament, but that body did not altogether 
fulfil the hopes of its originators in " raising the wind," 
being more inclined to ask for accounts than to provide 
funds. Nevertheless, reforms were planned, and payment 
by specie was to begin in 1867, a pious aspiration entirely 
defeated by the war of 1866 and the necessity for a fresh 
issue of paper money. In 1867 came the Ausgleich and 
a rearrangement of the finances of the Dual Monarchy 
on a basis to be described later. 

After a period of economic development came another 
of wild flotation and stock-jobbing, and in 1873 a terrible 
financial crisis was the result. In 1878 the occupation of 
Herzegovina and a great expansion in railway construction 
made it impossible for the State to begin its task of call- 
ing in paper, but since that period there has been a steady 
and continuous effort both in Austria and Hungary to 
remedy the chronic deficit in the budgets and to arrive at 
payment in specie. The privileged Austrian bank was, in 
1878, transformed into the Austro-Hungarian Bank with 
centres, having equality of control, at Vienna and Buda- 
pest. In 1892 both states adopted a gold standard on 
the basis of the 10-krone piece (the krone equalling iod.) , 
and this reform of the currency has proved very beneficial, 
though, to begin with, the gold standard had to be consoli- 
dated at fifteen per cent, loss on the former legal silver 



STATE ORGANISATION 215 

standard of Austria-Hungary. Gold has been bought 
abroad by means of " gold loans," and at the present time 
the bank must hold a reserve of gold to cover forty-nine 
per cent, of banknotes in circulation. Although not legally 
bound to do so, the bank pays its notes in gold on demand. 
As a matter of fact, the gold coinage has never become pop- 
ular, paper being preferred, and the gold in the possession 
of the bank in 1904 amounted to over sixty-three million 
pounds and exceeded that of the German Reichsbank or the 
Bank of England. The single paper florins were with- 
drawn in 1898 and replaced by silver and nickel money, 
but there are still State notes of five to fifty florins (equal- 
ling ten to a hundred krone) in circulation, which will in 
time be absorbed and replaced by metal or banknotes. The 
State has to make a deposit with the bank to cover each 
State note converted into a banknote. There have been 
many conversions and operations too technical and compli- 
cated for description here ; it is sufficient to say that Austria 
has emerged from the slough of financial difficulties which 
at one time threatened to engulf her. She has no longer a 
depreciated and uncertain coinage, and her State paper is 
all fully guaranteed. Her heavy liabilities are, it is as- 
serted, due to the necessity of military expenditure, but in 
fact they are due also to past financial misdeeds. Because 
of these, educational requirements and public works were 
neglected, and at the present time the growth of social 
and humanitarian feeling in State and country alike makes 
increased expenditures inevitable. 

The Austrian budgets for the last few years shew, on 
paper, a balance of revenue over expenditure, and both are 



V 



216 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

increasing steadily. The great increase in expenditure on 
public works includes the taking over and construction of 
railways, about sixty per cent, of which have been placed 
under State control. A network of local lines exist in 
addition to the main arteries of traffic, and these are partly 
privately owned, or are the property of the provinces or 
communes. The Government encourages construction. 
Tariffs and freights are kept low on State lines to promote 
trade and industry, and although the railways are unre- 
munerative — earning only two per cent, and costing over 
four per cent, on their capital value — they must be con- 
sidered as indirectly productive, and essential to the proper 
development of the country. On the other hand, the 
nominal increase in revenue is deceptive, as there are in- 
cluded in it assets which are not ordinary income. Were 
it not for the method of preparing the budgets a deficit 
would appear in the place of the surplus, and the financial 
condition has, in reality, been less satisfactory than it might 
have been for the last five years owing to the method em- 
ployed by various political parties of obstructing the voting 
of supplies. Large sums demanded for the services and 
public works remain unvoted. 

The financial affairs of the Dual Monarchy are divided 
into three sections, each having its own finance minister. 
It is recorded that when Victor Emmanuel visited the Aus- 
trian emperor at Vienna, and was presented to each of 
these functionaries in turn, he exclaimed with surprise: 
' What a rich country this must be to want three finance 
ministers!" The three departments are, however, kept 
entirely separate, and as this arrangement is one of the 



STATE ORGANISATION 217 

fundamental characteristics of the Constitution and fur- 
nishes matter for perennial debate between Austria and 
Hungary, it is necessary to understand it clearly. Each 
half of the monarchy has a separate budget, with revenue 
and expenditure entirely independent and distinct. Each 
has its own civil list, its own national debt, its own internal 
administration and its own chancellery (to mention only 
a few of the heads of expenditure), while Austria has to 
keep up a ministry of national defence and Hungary main- 
tains at her own expense her national army or Honved. 
The sources of revenue are similar in principle in both 
countries, but differ in detail. They consist of taxation, 
direct and indirect, State monopolies and State properties, 
the latter including forests, silver and coal mines, and State 
railways. Besides the two distinct financial departments of 
Austria and Hungary there is a third joint department, 
which deals with common affairs and has a common reve- 
nue, partly derived from the common customs receipts and 
partly from contributions from each half of the monarchy. 
The question of the right proportions of these contribu- 
tions has naturally been a burning one. It is nominally 
decided every ten years by two committees chosen from 
the delegations from the two parliaments and called 
"Quota" deputations. Up to 1897 Austria paid 65.6 
and Hungary 34.4, but the Hungarians refused to accept 
this proportion, and the deputations failed to agree. As 
a result parliamentary business broke down, neither the 
customs union nor the Bank charter were confirmed and 
the necessary steps had to be taken by Royal charter. 
Peace was restored for a time in 1899 by the reduction of 



218 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

the Hungarian proportion to 33, but while Austrians con- 
tinue to grumble that, although paying two-thirds of the 
expenses they have only half control, the Hungarians are 
by no means satisfied, and believe that with entirely sepa- 
rate departments they could work more economically. The 
departments included in this Common budget are three: 
First, foreign affairs, including diplomatic and consular 
representatives abroad, as well as international relations 
(with regard to tjie latter, however, sanction to treaties, 
commercial or otherwise, must be given alike by the Aus- 
trian and Hungarian parliaments) . Second, the army and 
navy, excluding measures in which Austria alone is con- 
cerned, such as the voting of recruits and legislation re- 
specting military service; Third, finance, so far as the joint 
budget is concerned. 

There is also a class of financial questions upon which 
the two halves of the Dual Monarchy determine in com- 
mon, such as customs legislation, coinage and currency 
questions, railways in which both have an interest and the 
military system. The Dual Monarchy also has customs 
and commercial relations in common. A customs and 
commercial union was made in 1867, renewed in 1878 and 
promulgated in 1887 for a period of ten years. Since 
that time, as has been said already, it has not been renewed 
by parliament, but the Emperor-King has prolonged it by 
the use of his prerogatives, and at the time of writing 
a provisional arrangement is in force pending the sanction 
of Parliament. This is one of the battlefields of the Dual 
Monarchy. Round this customs convention wages the 
fiercest war, and it is only possible to understand the polit- 



STATE ORGANISATION 219 

ical situation in Austria-Hungary by appreciating the im- 
portance of the question in the relations of the two 
countries. It must be premised that the revenue of the 
joint customs is ear-marked for common expenditure, and 
is the only revenue actually set apart for that purpose. 
There is always a deficit, which moreover is increasing out 
of proportion to the increase in customs revenue. It is 
this deficit which has to be supplied by the proportional 
contributions already described. The customs convention 
is undoubtedly useful to Austria, as it protects her manu- 
factures against German competition, and Austrians de- 
clare that without the customs convention their legitimate 
contribution to common expenditure should be reduced by 
ten per cent, and would still be too high. Many Hun- 
garians who are bent on entire independence of Austria in 
commercial matters would prefer to have their own con- 
sulates, and do not allow that they have a control of joint 
affairs in proportion to their contribution. The whole 
question raised, however, is essentially one of high politics, 
and must be considered in a subsequent chapter. Enough 
has been said to shew that the common affairs of the Dual 
Monarchy bristle with difficulties. 

The Hungarian finances have been complicated by Par- 
liamentary obstruction in the same way as the common 
finances. In 1903-4 nearly two million pounds were lost 
to the Government through the Radical opposition to the 
Budget and the failure to vote supply and therefore to 
collect taxation. It is calculated that, as the great joint 
stock companies paid their taxes in spite of obstruction, the 
mass of the population remained debtors to the State of 



220 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

half their taxes, and a great deal of this cannot be recov- 
ered. Nevertheless the Government was able to stand the 
strain, for, Hungarian finances having been placed on a 
sound basis by Dr. Wekerle (a financier of European re- 
putation) , the revenue and expenditure are now made to 
balance despite the heavy and progressive expenditure on 
public works. This satisfactory state of affairs was not 
reached until some years after Hungary secured her in- 
dependence. A heavy initial outlay was made on rail- 
ways, and the policy of nationalising all lines has been fol- 
lowed out, sometimes by means of forced sales. The zone 
tariff was adopted, and the lines are not regarded as 
revenue-producing, being on the contrary partly covered 
by income from other sources. Educational and industrial 
institutions are the subjects of State solicitude, and although 
Hungary enunciates the principle that private enterprise is 
essential to industrial activity, she is in fact indulging, like 
Austria, in some extreme forms of State socialism. The 
revenue and expenditure of Hungary for 1905 were esti- 
mated respectively at £51,583,000, and £51,385,000. 

At the time of the Ausgleich Hungary took over a pro- 
portion of the national debt, incurred during the absolut- 
ist period, which amounted to about one-fourth. This 
arrangement was altered in 1876 to a fixed annual contri- 
bution towards interest (£2,431,000), but, owing to differ- 
ences of opinion between the two countries on the details 
of the conversion which then took place, a portion of the 
debt was put on one side as the Hungarian share, and still 
pays the original rate of interest, while Hungary contri- 
butes a fixed sum of two and a half millions as her con- 



STATE ORGANISATION 221 

tribution. Besides this joint national debt, which in 1903 
amounted to 226 millions sterling, each half of the Dual 
Monarchy has its own national debt. That of Austria 
amounted in 1903 to £382,791,000, and that of Hungary 
to £141,075,000, or nearly £10 per head of population, 
about half that of the United Kingdom. These debts, 
especially that of Austria, are heavy charges, but it is 
necessary to remember the expensive reforms in currency 
and financial methods which the mistakes of former years 
made necessary, and also the recent heavy expenditure on 
works which may reasonably be expected to be in time 
reproductive. 

We have said already that in principle both halves of 
the Dual Monarchy raise their revenue by similar means. 
Direct taxation in both countries has been considerably 
raised and is proportionately high. There are two divi- 
sions of direct taxation; one current in both States, fixed 
by renewable compromise, which includes taxes on various 
articles of consumption, and the other separately raised 
and varying in incidence in each country, such as ground, 
house, trade, income, and transport taxation. 

The income tax is levied on nearly the same basis in 
both halves of the monarchy and is divided into four 
classes, which include ( 1 ) ground rent and mortgages, (2) 
industrial and commercial revenues, (3) professional or 
other private incomes, salaries and profits on farming, (4) 
interest on revenue from capital or unearned increment. 
As in England, the tax on personal incomes is progressive 
(immunity being only granted below £50) ; being .6 per 
cent, up to £75 and rising to nearly five per cent, on in- 



222 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

comes exceeding £8,333 P er annum. Nearly half the tax- 
payers pay on incomes below £75 a year; moreover many 
individuals may have to pay twice over, as there is a sepa- 
rately levied tax on salaries over £266 which are not in- 
cluded in income. A merchant who owns land in the 
country and a house in town pays the land-tax, the house- 
tax, the industry tax, and probably a tax on dividends, and 
then, deducting the total of his taxation, he pays a tax on 
his income counting the sources already taxed. 3 

The State monopolies constitute another and very fruit- 
ful source of revenue. Austria has had a State monoply 
of tobacco since 1670. To-day it is directly exploited, 
both in culture, importation and manufacture. Hungary 
has followed suit since 1851, having built up an industry 
of her own in this respect, partly by a patriotic resolve 
on the part of the Magyars to smoke only Hungarian 
tobacco. 

Of the foreign capital in the Dual Monarchy nearly half 
that invested both in Government stock and private enter- 
prises is French ; twenty-eight per cent, is German and the 
rest is English, Dutch, and Belgian. The French in- 
vestor, who is notoriously shy of financing any enterprise 
in his own country, has, in addition to Government and 
railway stock, been willing to take up less reliable invest- 
ments in mines. Austria and Hungary are both anxious 
to retain the control of the railways, many of which are 
built with French capital, and in some cases are forcibly 
buying up railways, paying for them in State bonds. The 

3 Compare with the English income tax; immunity below ^160 per annum 
and abatements on a progressive scale up to ^700. 



STATE ORGANISATION 223 

most solid financial Austrian institution is the Austrian 
Credit Foncier, which is built up largely on French capital 
and has a central office at Paris, with branches in most of 
the large Austrian cities and at Bucharest. The Hungarian 
Credit Foncier was also a French creation and has a good 
standing. German capital is especially engaged in indus- 
trial enterprises in which the direction and control is also 
German. Curiously enough, German enterprise is more 
extensive in Hungary than in Austria. 

The Stock Exchange, both at Vienna and Budapest, is 
entirely controlled by the Jewish element. We have al- 
ready mentioned that all the bankers are Jews, and the 
shares of the great credit establishment, the Austro-Hun- 
garian bank, practically regulate the market. Capital is, 
to a very large extent, foreign, and foreign influence is a 
great factor, a circumstance which might cause uneasiness, 
in view of the weight of the money market in matters 
political, were it not becoming more and more apparent 
that in Europe, and indeed in the whole civilised world, the 
operations of the various stock exchanges, controlled by a 
narrowing ring (chiefly Jewish), are influenced far less 
than might be expected by national or political considera- 
tions. 

The third department of State which Austria and Hun- 
gary share in common is that of Defence. The geographi- 
cal position of the two countries gives them an immense 
stretch of frontier to defend; they have three powerful 
States as neighbours, and it is not surprising to find that 
the military spirit is highly developed and that the whole 
social organisation is built up round the army. As in 



224 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Germany and France, the system of defence rests on uni- 
versal conscription. Practically from the age of nineteen 
to that of forty-two, all able males are liable to military 
service in one form or another, and even those exempt in 
time of peace are liable to be called out in wartime. 
There are three classes of service; the common army of 
the Dual Monarchy, the special armies {Honved of Hun- 
gary and Landwehr of Austria), and the levy-in-mass. 
The term of service is twelve years, of which three years 
are passed with the colours, seven in the reserve (common 
army) and two with the Honved or Landwehr. Con- 
scription for the common army begins at twenty-one years 
of age. In addition to the men recruited under this reg- 
ulation, the Honved and Landwehr have the right to 
recruit independently a yearly contingent which serves two 
years with the colours and ten with the reserves. The 
peculiar significance of this regulation is that it establishes 
the principle that the two national armies are entirely 
separate from the common army though they are linked up 
for the purposes of defence. Besides the ordinary service 
of twelve years, all males between the ages of nineteen and 
forty-two, whether belonging to the exempt classes or not, 
are liable to be called out by the levy-in-mass, unless (of 
course) they already belong to the common army or navy, 
reserve, or special armies. This levy-in-mass cannot, how- 
ever, be sent beyond the country except by statute, and it 
forms in reality a reserve which would only be indented 
upon at a national crisis. It must be noted that the 
" exempt " classes (elementary school teachers, single men 
supporting mothers, and others) are not released from all 



STATE ORGANISATION 225 

military obligation. They are formed into a supple- 
mentary reserve called the Ersatz, and are liable to eight 
weeks' training and four weeks' manoeuvres in the year. 
Moreover, those who have adopted the military profession 
are not exempt from service after the age of forty-two, and 
both they and civil officials in retirement may be called on 
to serve in the levy-in-mass until the age of sixty. 

The Emperor-King is the head of the army, and is 
called the "War Lord" (Oberste Kriegs Herr). Im- 
mediately under (and responsible to) him are the three or 
four inspectors general. The Landwehr and Honved 
have each their own commander-in-chief, answerable only 
to the Emperor, and the common army has a General 
Staff, the chief of which is responsible to the Emperor 
alone. The central administration of the common army 
is the war ministry at Vienna, and the Landwehr and 
Honved have respectively national ministries of defence 
at Vienna and Budapest. 

The General Staff, like the organisation of the army 
generally, is modelled on that of Germany and presents 
no special features. Officers serving on it have not only 
to pass very severe examinations, but must perform prac- 
tical staff work with distinction. They are also given 
relief from staff work and kept in touch with the troops 
by short periods of command in different districts. Each 
army corps and each division has a " General Staff sec- 
tion," with a Staff officer as chief of Staff assisted by three 
or four others. The brigades have each one General 
Staff officer. 

The recruiting for the medical corps is partly accom- 



226 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

plished by granting subventions to young men who, in re- 
turn for aid in pursuing their medical studies, give a certain 
number of years' service in the army. All other medical 
students are liable to the usual conscription, but give only 
six months under the colours and six months in military 
hospital. The three years of ordinary conscription serv- 
ice with the colours is reduced to one in the case of univer- 
sity or military academy students who have passed a 
certain standard. The commissioned ranks in the common 
army are not reserved, as in Great Britain, for a special 
class of society, but are open to all. This, however, has 
only been the case since the reorganisation of the army 
after Sadowa, up to which period the rank and file were 
chiefly long-service men and the officers drawn from the 
aristocratic classes. There are now three ways of becom- 
ing an officer: first, by graduating as sub-lieutenant from 
one of the two military academies (equivalent to university 
standard) ; second, by passing through the cadet schools 
and entering the army as a cadet-officer aspirant (a com- 
mission is generally obtained after one or two years) ; and 
third, all officers of reserve (who have been in the one-year 
class) can, if they desire and if they pass their examina- 
tions with distinction, get commissions in the line. The 
officers of the two national armies are as a rule transferred 
from the common army or from the reserves, but there are 
cadet schools for each, and Hungary is now anxious to 
secure an independent supply of officers for the Honved. 
It may be mentioned that over half the officers follow 
the profession permanently, but the rest retire into civil 
life, and (after a year's training and passing the necessary 



STATE ORGANISATION 227 

examinations) enter the reserve with the grade of sub- 
lieutenant. 

An exceedingly high state of efficiency and scientific 
knowledge is required from the Austrian officer, as well as 
an amount of work not dreamed of in non-continental 
armies. The compulsory service has done away with the 
long-service non-commissioned officer, who was the drill- 
master for the soldier and the mentor for the young officer, 
as is still the case in the British army. All this — the drill- 
ing, education of the soldier, the whole detail of the inner 
service — now rests on the shoulders of the subaltern 
officers. Besides creating out of the raw recruit in a short 
time a serviceable soldier, teaching him to shoot and to 
ride, the officer has to be his own schoolmaster and teach 
the common soldier reading, writing, arithmetic, geog- ! v y 
raphy, history, etc., and the elements of the duties and 
rights of a citizen. The more intelligent of the troops are 
taught to scout, read maps, and survey. The average 
work-hours of an officer (not counting the exceptionally 
early rising hour of four o'clock in time of manoeuvres) are 
from six a. m. to noon and from two to five p. m., and in 
certain periods of the year till seven or eight in the even- 
ing. For months at a time the officer is on duty in barracks 
from five a. m. till seven p. m. with only one to two hours' 
respite at midday for dinner. Little wonder that he feels 
that he has well earned the rare holiday occasionally ac- 
corded him. If officers are frequently seen idling and loaf- 
ing in Vienna, Prague, or provincial capitals it is because 
they come on short leave of absence from many points of 
the compass; each one, perhaps, only gets two such short 



228 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

leaves in the year. The standard of duty, honour and 
devotion is very high, the mode of life simple, and the 
character of the men compares favourably with that of 
other services. 

Officering in Austria is not a lucrative business, but 
luckily the officer's social status in no way depends upon 
the length of his purse — most of them are poor men 
with nothing more to live on than their scanty pay, which 
does not allow much margin for carousing and gambling. 
Of course there are among the officers, and particularly in 
certain crack regiments, a number of young noblemen 
whose means allow them more scope for extravagance and 
display, but these are rather the exception than the rule, 
and the work exacted from the young officers deters those 
who are not in earnest in their profession. The spirit of 
camaraderie and of esprit de corps (two words for which 
the English language contains no true equivalent) is still 
strong among the Austrian officers, those of the same grade 
addressing each other by the affectionate " thou " in the 
second person. 

The rank of officer carries with it (even when in the 
reserve) a social status above that of the middle class and 
even above the civil officials, unless the family position of 
the latter is high. No difference can be made (once an 
officer is accepted) on the score of his parentage. He gets 
his education free, passes his examination, and his regi- 
mental pay is sufficient for his actual needs. He cannot, 
however, be appointed to a regiment without special ac- 
ceptance by the entire corps of officers, which is decided by 
secret ballot. Anyone making an objection to a candidate 



STATE ORGANISATION 229 

must state his reasons, which must be based on questions 
of honour, family or individual. An objection, for in- 
stance, could be raised against a man whose father had 
been punished by the law. A rejected candidate has the 
right to appeal to a Court of Honour, and can even appeal 
to the brigade commander, who must decide what must be 
done and whether it is permissible for him to apply for 
another regiment. Regimental expenses are kept low, 
except in some of the crack cavalry regiments. The regi- 
mental silver is provided, and it is a point of honour among 
the higher officers to check any sign of display. Some of 
the richer regiments keep packs of hounds, and the love of 
sport is common with all, though not all have the time in 
which to indulge it. Both in Austria and Hungary horse 
racing is a most popular form of amusement, and gam- 
bling (in private) is indulged in despite the official attitude. 
Great allowances must be made for the men who are con- 
demned for long periods to garrison life in some small pro- 
vincial town, where life is unbearably monotonous. The 
number of suicides is proportionately high in the army 
among the officers, this being due not only to the strain of 
head work, but to a mistaken sense of honour which makes 
men prefer death to facing any financial difficulty into 
which imprudence may have led them. Suicides among 
the rank and file of soldiers are also common, but it is not 
necessary to imagine them as victims of brutality, since the 
homesickness from which many of these peasants suffer is 
sufficient to account to a large extent for the phenomenon. 
Marriage among the officers is regulated, as in Germany 
by strict consideration of ways and means, and the aspir- 



230 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

ing bride must pass muster before she can be received into 
the army. A Court of Honour, if it is satisfied as to the 
means of the young couple, the honour of the lady and her 
family and their social status, will give permission. Only 
a certain number of officers are on the statutory list whose 
widows get pensions; others, if they marry, must contrib- 
ute for a certain number of years to the fund before they 
can get on the list. 

The practice of duelling is still common, and may even 
be ordered by the Court of Honour under pain of dis- 
missal. The evils of the system and its advantages (which 
certainly exist) cannot be discussed here, as it is not 
peculiar to Austria-Hungary, but it may be said that the 
morale and high education of the officers and the growth 
of liberal and humane ideas are an increasing check on the 
abuse of the practice. 

In spite of all this it is inevitable that the new demo- 
cratic basis of the army should somewhat destroy the 
feeling of camaraderie, just as the nationalist propaganda 
undermines esprit de corps. It is inevitable that officers 
drawn from all social grades and different races should 
carry with them their social distinctions as well as their 
national prejudices and antagonisms. Every year a con- 
siderable number of officers hand in their resignations, and 
the difficulty of maintaining the military spirit and dis- 
cipline is increased by the extent to which the military 
officers return to civil life and are subjected to a different 
kind of influence. 

There are no less than eleven nationalities in the army : 
Germans, Magyars, Italians, Roumanians (each speaking 



STATE ORGANISATION 231 

a different tongue) and the various Slav races, Czechs, 
Croatians, Servians, Poles, Ruthenians, Slovenes and 
Slovaks, speaking different forms of a Slavonic language. 
The tongue of command for all (in the common army) 
is German, but each regiment to a large extent speaks its 
own language, which is used perforce for purposes of in- 
struction, since the average soldier understands only his 
own maternal tongue. 

The position of the Emperor-King as Supreme Head 
(and not a figure-head) of the army is upheld by constitu- 
tional rights. Since the defeat at Mohacs in 1526 there 
has been no real Hungarian army, for the Honved is not 
a true army but a militia. Kossuth raised a revolutionary 
force in 1848, but the beginning of the present Hungarian 
army (that is, the Hungarian half of the Common army) 
was made in 1867, when the Emperor-King was constitu- 
tionally authorised to organise and command the army 
from both halves of his monarchy. It is necessary to ap- 
preciate this, because the Hungarian claim to a separate 
and individual army is thus shewn to be without historical 
foundation. The common army, with its Austrian and 
Hungarian regiments, is a fundamental principle of the 
dualist system, and is, in fact, essential to the union of 
the two countries. 

The claim of the Hungarians that the Magyar language 
should be the word of command in Hungarian regiments 
thus seems to be without constitutional warrant. There 
must be one language of command, or the machine will be 
incapable of working as a whole and will be split in two. 
And as the language of command has always been Ger- 



232 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

man, as over 58 per cent, of the army is Austrian (or at 
least non-Hungarian) , and as the " War Lord " is a Ger- 
man-speaking monarch, it is reasonable to expect that Ger- 
man should continue to hold its place. Outside the larger 
question is the one of convenience and of national amour 
propre. As regards the former it is a genuine grievance 
that Hungarian regiments should be officered by men who 
do not speak the tongue of the soldiers. For the latter, 
the Hungarian officers, naturally wishing to seek the so- 
ciety of their co-nationals, complained that they were sent 
to any regiment save a Hungarian one and that this policy 
was adopted to denationlise them. Both difficulties are 
now being met by the expedient of quietly filling up the 
vacancies in Hungarian regiments with Hungarian officers, 
and in this matter it may be remembered that, as the Hun- 
garians would not enter the army till after the reorganisa- 
tion of 1867, the supply of officers was at first necessarily 
inadequate. This was particularly the case with the 
higher commands, which have also been made a ground 
for grievance. It was not possible, however, to find Hun- 
garians with the requisite training and experience for these 
posts, and even to-day the only men with any practical ex- 
perience of war operations or of the reorganisation period 
must of necessity be Austrians. A more reasonable griev- 
ance is the extent to which the royal family monopolise 
high commands. Although Bohemian statesmen have al- 
ways recognised that one language of command is essential 
for the common army, they are inclined to follow the Hun- 
garian lead in other matters. Their genuine and legiti- 
mate demand is that Bohemian officers should command 



STATE ORGANISATION 233 

regiments recruited in their country, but the army is not a 
popular profession with better-class Czechs, who must pass \^ 
through German military schools to qualify for it. 

It is important to estimate how far the national and 
race jealousies could influence the troops in time of war. 
The corps of officers, despite these mutual jealousies, may 
be considered as sound. We have said already that poli- 
tics are not allowed to interfere with their Loyalty to their 
profession and its discipline. But the rank and file, drawn 
from such heterogeneous sources, though drilled with an 
appearance of complete discipline, must retain a powerful 
sense of nationality which their esprit de corps is not suf- 
ficient to dispel. In the past Austria has had serious 
difficulties of this character. The non-German regiments, 
when called upon to put down insurrections in Italy, 
Croatia, and Galicia in 1820 and 1840, gave considerable 
trouble, and when, after 1848, the nationalist revival be- 
came more marked, many of the troops which mutinied at 
Vienna were from regiments which had been considered 
perfectly reliable. In Italy several Italian battalions of 
Radetzky's army went over to the enemy at Cremona and 
Brescia, as well as entire garrisons elsewhere, some 20,000 
men in all deserting the colours. Again in Italy, in 1859, 
the Austrian army shewed lack of enthusiasm, and at 
Magenta only twelve out of sixty-one thousand actually 
took part, while the attack by the Kintzel brigade failed 
chiefly because of the defection of the Sigismund (an 
Italian) regiment. The Croatian districts along the 
frontier being hostile, the Slavonic regiments had to be 
withdrawn and replaced by Germans and Hungarians. In 






234 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

1866 in the Prussian campaign a large number of men 
allowed themselves to be captured without striking a blow, 
and at Aschaffenburg the Italian regiments, with bands 
playing, passed over to the enemy; while in Upper Silesia 
the famous Hungarian legion under Klapka was formed 
entirely from deserters from the Austrian army. Dur- 
ing the Prague riots Czech troops refused to march against 
their fellow-countrymen, and a regiment of dragoons al- 
lowed themselves to be disarmed by the populace. 

These historical instances are, however, somewhat dis- 
counted by the fact that since Sadowa the army has been 
entirely remodelled and is now subjected to great strictness 
of discipline, while the opening of the career of officer to 
men of all ranks and all races has been a powerful link 
between the rank and file and their commanders. On the 
other hand, national self-consciousness has immensely in- 
creased. In 1899 and 1900 Bohemian recruits had to be 
punished for answering the call in Czech, and we find the 
Czechs asking for their language to be used in Bohemian 
regiments as the language of instruction, while the Croats, 
who have secured the use of their native tongue for the 
Domobranci (their local territorial army) are quite ready 
to prefer a similar claim. It must of course be pointed out 
that the defection of troops usually took place when they 
were called upon to fight their own countrymen or (in the 
case of Slavs and Croats) their kinsmen. Such contin- 
gencies may not arise again, but the loyalty of the army to 
the dynasty is nevertheless the corner-stone of the Dual 
Monarchy, and the question is therefore a serious one for 
Austria-Hungary and still more for the Habsburgs. 



STATE ORGANISATION 235 

The Emperor Francis Joseph is understood to be quite 
unyielding, therefore, in the matter of the word of com- 
mand, which is not only the key to the situation, but is 
frankly admitted by some Hungarian leaders to involve a 
good deal more. He has expressed willingness to meet 
the Hungarians on such matters as ensigns, military fac- 
ings and badges, and even the introduction of Magyar as 
the language of instruction in regiments where the Hun- 
garian element predominates, but beyond this he declines 
to go. There can be little doubt that, as the Emperor 
is convinced, the granting of the double language of com- 
mand would not only impair the efficiency of the army and 
infringe his rights as a constitutional monarch, but would 
pave the way for a military separation which must in- 
evitably lead to the entire severance of the two countries. 

In a country with such an extended frontier as Austria- 
Hungary, the question of fortifications used to be a serious 
one, but modern warfare has to a great extent reduced the 
value of such defences. In Alpine countries where there 
are only a few passes by which an invading army can 
enter, there are still important strategic points, and the 
most valuable of these for Austria are in the Tyrol and 
Carinthia, where two powerful groups of fortifications 
have recently been constructed. Cracow and Przemysl are 
fortified camps, but the old fortifications in various parts 
of the country are antiquated and useless. Pola, the naval 
station, is said to be a strong, well-fortified post, but its 
exposed position and the length of the line of communica- 
tion between it and Austria or Hungary make it undoubt- 
edly a vulnerable spot. 



236 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

The Austro-Hungarian navy, though small, is main- 
tained in a high state of efficiency and manned by a corps 
of officers among whom not only a high standard of educa- 
tion, but also excellent spirit and discipline prevails. Al- 
though Austria-Hungary has in Dalmatia a very extended 
seaboard, there is no reason for her to embark on a naval 
programme, even if she could afford to do so. Her trade 
is not sea-borne to the extent of needing protection, and 
the demands made upon the country for military protection 
absorb so large a share of the revenue as to leave little 
for hypothetical needs. In the event of conflict with Italy, 
for instance, the defence of the seaboard towns would be 
practically impossible, but to compete with the Italian navy 
is out of the question, and Austria must rely upon her army 
for security in the same way that Great Britain does upon 
her navy. It is a drawback for the Austrian navy that its 
recruiting must be done in the Dalmatian provinces, where 
the sympathies of the sea-faring people and their racial 
affinities are rather with the Italians than the Austrians. 



CHAPTER XI 

SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 

First and foremost among the economic questions, as it 
is among the political questions of the day, is that which 
concerns the commercial Ausgleich between the two halves 
of the Dual Monarchy. Austrian industrialists, it must be 
noted, were anxious for a protective tariff at a time when 
Hungary still desired free trade, and the result of these 
counter interests was that, after the agreement of 1899, 
a low protective tariff was placed on textile and other in- 
dustries, while raw material was practically free. The 
growth of tariff walls in Europe and America, however, 
caused an inevitable modification of this attitude, and it is 
well known that Great Britain alone has continued true to 
free-trade principles. In 1892 Austria-Hungary united 
with Germany, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland in com- 
mercial treaties for twelve years, the object being to secure 
for Central Europe a stable market, since industry was be- 
ing crippled by the high tariff walls in America and Russia. 
The latter country joined this circle two years later, and 
Great Britain secured the same treatment by her " most 
favoured nation " treaty with Austria-Hungary. It was 
the conclusion of these agreements in 1903 that made nec- 
essary the arrangements on a fresh basis for foreign com- 
merce, and the Liberal premier, Count Tisza, rather took 
the wind out of the sails of the extreme Independence 

237 



238 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

party by concluding new commercial treaties with Ger- 
many and Italy (which bind the country till 19 19) with- 
out waiting for parliamentary consent to the Ausgleich. 

We have already seen that this commercial Ausgleich, 
upon which the union of the two countries in all matters 
of trade and custom rests, was originally made for a period 
of ten years, after which it had to be renewed. The first 
period expired in 1877, was renewed in 1878, and pro- 
mulgated in 1887 for a period of ten years, but since 
the expiration of that time parliamentary obstruction has 
prevented a fresh renewal, and the necessary arrangements 
are carried on by means of a provisional Ausgleich com- 
manded by the Emperor-King, by virtue of certain con- 
stitutional rights. The question of foreign trade has, 
however, complicated matters. Treaties with foreign 
powers could not wait till the Hungarian parliamentary 
crisis was over, therefore these treaties were concluded on 
the supposition that, during the time covered by them, 
Austria and Hungary would continue to be one for com- 
mercial purposes. The Hungarian Independence party 
were not slow to perceive in this an opportunity for break- 
ing away from the customs union without at once dislocat- 
ing Hungarian foreign trade. Hungary requires time to 
build up the industries by which she hopes to render her- 
self commercially independent of Austria, and this time is 
secured by the continuance of the foreign treaties, while 
simultaneously an opportunity presented itself for getting 
in the thin end of the wedge for commercial separation. 
Therefore at the end of May, 1906, a separate Hungarian 
tariff bill was laid before the Hungarian chamber, and 



SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 239 

although this bill is almost identical in form with the joint 
tariff voted by the Austrian parliament, it contains the 
germ of separation since it is a Hungarian and not a joint 
bill. This plan was intended to keep Hungarian hands 
free — for the Parliament need not renew the Ausgleich — 
without allowing Austria the excuse for retaliation. 
Shorn of all technical details it was an ingenious scheme 
whereby Hungary could obtain all the advantages of a cus- 
toms union with Austria for another ten years without rec- 
ognising the constitutional nature of that union. Austria 
is not, however, prepared to accept the role offered her, 
and the situation aroused so much alarm and indignation 
that in the early weeks of June, 1906, the various races 
and parties of Austria combined together for the first time 
to defend Austrian interests. 

Broadly speaking, the only legitimate object of Hun- 
gary in pressing for an independent commercial existence, 
is that she may protect herself against Austria as against 
a foreign country, and to accomplish this it is the inten- 
tion of Hungary to press forward the industrial develop- 
ment which is just beginning in a country hitherto mainly 
agricultural. To facilitate this, as we have seen al- 
ready, the State is granting heavy subsidies, and has 
plunged into great expense to provide necessary communi- 
cations. Although there is promise of industrial success 
in Hungary, under normal conditions, there is the possi- 
bility that to stimulate this development unduly by sub- 
sidies, taxation and protective tariffs will cost the country 
too dear (especially if it tends to produce more expensive 
and less well-made articles which could be made cheaper 



240 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

and better in Austria) and may ruin Hungarian agriculture. 
Agriculture is still the staple of the country and is specially 
helped by the fertility of the soil and the proclivities of 
the people, and to sacrifice the markets of this agricultural 
population would be far from beneficial to the Hunga- 
rian nation. Englishmen who are at present striving in 
the interests of national physique and morale to get their 
population back to the land and to recreate agricultural 
England, cannot but watch with misgivings the tactics of 
the party in Hungary which is bent at all costs on artifi- 
cially stimulating Hungarian industrialism. 1 

Austrians say that a tariff war with Hungary would drive 
them into the German system more surely than any pan- 
German propaganda, and an Austro-German Zollverein 
would suit the Austrian industrialists very well from cer- 
tain points of view. Possibly it might not be palatable 
to the Czechs, and the suggestion is not one that at present 
comes within the range of practical politics, but, while Aus- 
trian and Hungarian experts deliberate on a possible new 
form of commercial Ausgleich, all these alternatives have 
been fully discussed, and in the agitation aroused through- 
out Austria by the Hungarian proposal it has become plain 
that Austria has more than one possible weapon for retali- 
ation. 

These complicated and technical questions as to com- 
mercial relations are in reality of equal importance with 

1 The surplus agricultural produce of Hungary, after she has fed her own 
people, amounts to some ,£40,000,000 worth a year, which goes to Austria. 
Can Hungary retain this market while building protected industries? Can she 
create a sufficient home market by artificially stimulated industrialism? In 
other words, can she live on her own fat, like a Polar bear? 



SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 241 

tKe " language of command " or any other nationalist 
question now agitating Austria-Hungary. Indeed, as a 
State lives on its purse just as an army travels on its belly, 
the economic outlook and the question of commercial rela- 
tions are the most important of all subjects. The object 
of all who support the principle of dualism is to shew that 
agreement can be arrived at, that the interests of the two 
countries are interwoven and not antagonistic, and that a 
solution of the problem could be reached with a little 
mutual forbearance. 

There is indeed a strong case to be made out for the 
commercial unity of Austria-Hungary. Although the 
latter might prefer the liberty, as a separate territory, of 
making her own treaties for commerce and following out 
her design of industrial expansion by a boycott of Aus- 
trian goods, protective tariffs and government subsidies, 
yet she would find it difficult to replace a market to which 
three-fourths of her whole exports go and from which 
three-fourths of her imports come. 

Her geographical position, added to the undeveloped 
condition of the countries which surround her (except Aus- 
tria and Germany), would greatly increase her difficulties. 
Still, the Balkan states will continue to go forward, and 
Hungary may legitimately hope to capture a great deal of 
their trade. Despite her lack of ports she has the ad- 
vantage of the great waterway of the Danube, but this 
advantage is discounted by the fact that the mouth of the 
river is in the Black Sea and belongs to Roumania. Al- 
together, taking into account the fact that Hungary is still 
an agricultural country, that her industrial progress can- 



242 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

not be expected to be as phenomenal as that of Germany 
for instance (at a period when competition was less keen 
and the discovery of steam and electricity gave an enor- 
mous impetus) , that Austria is by far her largest market 
and that she is handicapped by lack of ports from develop- 
ing a sea-borne trade (Italy has the advantage here) ; 
taking all these things into consideration one is obliged to 
conclude that there is something hasty and premature 
about the demand for a separate commercial existence. 
One cannot see what tangible gains would accrue to com- 
pensate for the dangers run, and if there are to be no 
dangers — if Hungary is simply to follow the same policy 
as a separate state that she did as part of a dual one — then 
we must conclude that the present agitation is purely 
political. One thing is certain. The Austrians are now 
determined not to accept partition by degrees, such as 
would be implied by a gradual dissolution of the commer- 
cial bond. They are not prepared to consent to a policy 
like that by which it was recently declared that Ireland 
should have " Home Rule by Instalments." 

Although Austria is an industrial country in esse and 
Hungary in posse, both continue to expend large sums of 
money on agriculture. The governments have state train- 
ing and experimental institutes, stud farms, and organ- 
isations for supervising land cultivation. The State 
breeding of horses is a large and also a remunerative busi- 
ness in both countries, but the total of expenditure on these 
departments far exceeds the actual revenue. In Austria 
the Ministry of Agriculture spends £833,000 yearly, while 
the direct income from the departments is £75,000. 



SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 243 

The conditions of industrial life in Austria are regu- 
lated by a code dating from 1883. As in Great Britain, 
the laws regulating life and labour originated in the 
humanitarian movement for the protection of child 
workers who were so terribly exploited at the commence- 
ment of the industrial era. The Austrian code closely 
resembles that of Germany, but is dissimilar in one respect, 
that it sets a definite limit to the hours of work, which may 
not exceed eleven, except in the case of overtime paid for 
directly to the workmen. Children may not be employed 
in factories or mines under the age of fourteen, but they 
may begin industrial work of other kinds at twelve. The 
age is lower than in Germany, where thirteen is fixed 
and even later unless the required educational standard 
is passed. Women are protected by legislation similar 
to that in Germany and France. Hungary presents no 
special features in labour legislation, except that there is, 
at present, no time limit to adult labour. Factory and 
mine inspection was established in 1893, Dut 1S not Y et svs ~ 
tematically carried out. The German and Austrian 
method of compulsory insurance against sickness or acci- 
dent is in force, but the employer is only liable in case of 
criminal neglect. A Bill providing for fuller insurance 
against sickness and old age is now before the Hungarian 
house, but is denounced by the Labour party as worse than 
useless. There are extraneous circumstances, not so 
prominent in the German Empire, which must also be taken 
into consideration in judging of the condition of the 
people. 

First and foremost comes the influence of the Church 



244 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

on daily life. One of the most striking features of 
modern Austrian political life has been the growing an- 
tagonism to the Roman Catholic Church and the Clerical 
party. It is almost impossible to describe the various 
phases of this revolt and the forms which it is taking in 
various parts of the monarchy, but it is perhaps best ex- 
plained as the struggle of nationalism against Catholi- 
cism, the nationalism in this case being many-headed. By 
the concordat of 1855 the House of Habsburg handed 
over to the Church a vast range of power and responsi- 
bility. Education was altogether in priestly hands, but 
an even more potent weapon was the entire control of 
certain relations of life, such as marriage, which could not 
be contracted without the permission of the Church. 
Moreover, the wealth and power of the Church, which 
had grown up during many centuries, gave her a pre- 
ponderating influence in affairs of State. 

The abrogation of the concordat in 1875 at once 
changed the status of the Church. It was rendered neces- 
sary by the growing liberalism of the country, which 
demanded fresh marriage laws, and a more democratic 
form of education. At the same time the clerical endow- 
ments, which are of great value, were placed under civil 
control, thus depriving the Church of a privilege for 
which she had contended since the early days of the Holy 
Roman Empire. The Church had always been regarded 
as the " Sentinel " of the Habsburgs, the most faithful 
Catholic family in Europe, but the attitude which Francis 
Joseph was obliged to take in this matter called down the 
strongest remonstrance from the Pope. A few years 



SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 245 

later the Triple Alliance still further disturbed the old 
relations between Rome and the Habsburgs. Catholi- 
cism, which claims eighty per cent, of the total population 
of Austria and fifty-one per cent, in Hungary, has now 
assumed a new significance as a political force. The 
extreme German nationalist party, attracted by the Los 
von Rom movement, and agitating for a political union 
with Germany, watches with distrust any action of the 
clericals, and even refuses the name of German to a pro- 
fessed Roman Catholic. 

The " Los von Rom " movement, closely allied with 
the pan-German propaganda which must be discussed in a 
subsequent chapter, is intrinsically political rather than 
religious. Schoenerer, the leader of the extreme German 
nationalist party, gave the first impulse to it in Austria 
by exhorting his fellow-countrymen to " break the chains 
which bind us to a Church hostile to Germanism." He 
then organised an anti-Catholic campaign, which was 
assisted by German pastors from across the frontier, but 
the proceedings were so obviously of a political rather 
than a religious character that the Austrian Government 
interfered, as it was well entitled to do by the trea- 
sonable character of the speeches. It is probable that 
without German clerical aid the whole movement would 
have been much less noticeable, and at the present time 
Schoenerer, its leader, is discredited as a politician. The 
Catholic party in Austria has more than once appealed 
to the Government to protect their religion against the 
attacks on it which rre so largely engineered and financed 
in Germany. The Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir 



246 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

to the throne, has placed himself at the head of the 
Catholic School Association (a very powerful and wealthy 
organisation) and has said that the " Los von Rom " 
movement " cannot be too strongly suppressed." As a 
matter of fact, from the religious standpoint the result 
has not been very serious ; probably not more than twenty 
thousand people having seceded from the Church. The 
political consequences are more striking, but the Austrian 
Government has not seen its way to adopting any stern 
repressive measures, probably with the wise conviction 
that to do so would advertise the movement even more 
widely and make it still more attractive. The result of 
this tolerant attitude is that the attempt to Protestantise 
Austria has failed, but in failing has accomplished far- 
reaching changes in the political world. It has caused a 
serious breach among the Austrian Germans, who are as 
much divided from each other by the anti-Catholic move- 
ment as they are by nationalist aspirations from the 
Czechs or Italians. The moderate Catholic Germans are 
pro-Slav, while the (Catholic) Christian Socialists are 
pre-eminently anti-Semitic. The only non-Catholic party 
is that of the pan-Germans, but the Catholics are divided 
by their opinions as to the proper policy towards the Slavs, 
as well as by their federalist or centralist convictions and 
by their leaning towards clericalism or Liberalism. 

Nevertheless the Catholic party, as such, continues to 
be a strong one, and this politico-religious movement of 
Los von Rom is the first real shake that has been given 
to its position. The Church, albeit she has lost many of 
her privileges, remains both rich and powerful, and is 



SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 247 

a considerable landowner. The wealth of some of her 
prelates is very great, and the influence of the Church in 
all grades of society cannot be discounted. 

Naturally, the extent to which the priest dominates 
the family and daily life varies in different parts of the 
country, but it is considerably greater in Austria (and in 
some parts of Hungary) than in any other modern Catho- 
lic country, save, perhaps, Ireland. The growth of Ger- 
man liberalism has affected the middle and working classes 
in the towns, but the aristocracy and agricultural peasants 
are under priestly influence to a great extent. In the 
upper classes we have seen the effect in stereotyping so- 
ciety and limiting the mental outlook. The Church in 
Austria has never stood for progress. In the lower ranks 
of life we find the Church responsible for a variety of 
social phenomena generally marking (as in Ireland) a 
stage of mental development in which reason is sub- 
ordinated to instinct and both are warped by superstition. 
In those parts of the Austrian lands where the Ruthenian, 
Serbo-Croatian, or Servian element is found there is a keen 
conflict between the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox 
communities, a religious warfare which is still further 
complicated in Bosnia-Herzegovina by the duplication of 
sects. 

The perception that the Church was not taking suffi- 
cient part in the forward humanitarian and social move- 
ments of modern times has led quite recently to the 
formation in Austria of a young Catholic party, including 
some priests and a number of promising young men. 
Their movement is as yet only in its infancy, but it should 



248 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

enlist the sympathy of all patriotic Austrian Catholics, 
since it is intended to initiate a Catholic national demo- 
cratic party — that is, to gather together all that is best 
in the religious, national, and social world of politics. 

The position occupied by the Roman Catholic Church 
in Hungary is somewhat different to that in Austria from 
the political point of view, since it is essentially nationalist 
and even a zealous propagandist of Magyar aims and 
ideals. Throughout Hungary the influence of the Church 
is very great (although less than ten millions out of the 
nineteen belong to it) , and its power has not been impaired 
by such reverses as have been meted out to Catholic Aus- 
tria. As a national Church the Roman Catholics have 
a plainer task in Hungary than in Austria. They are 
opposed to racial differences within the kingdom, and to 
the revival or retention of other languages than that of 
the Magyars. In the Slovak country, where a determined 
effort is being made to resist Magyarisation and retain 
the Slav language, the Magyar clergy are the instruments 
of a strong anti-Slav organisation. Priests are eligible 
throughout Hungary as deputies, and in many country 
districts they are the most suitable candidates. But the 
Magyar bishops will never give the necessary sanction 
to a Slav candidate, and the result is that among the 
numerous priests in the Diet of Budapest few are other 
than Magyar in sentiments, and fewer still in origin. The 
Church is a very considerable landowner in Hungary, and, 
moreover, a great portion of the land owned by her is 
inalienable. Her most serious difficulty will probably 
arise eventually from the rising Evangelicanism which has 



SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 249 

its stronghold in Transylvania. Of the religious confusion 
in that country we have already spoken, and it may be 
imagined that if Catholicism in Hungary is synonymous 
with Nationalism, so that it does not rouse opposition from 
the Magyar Protestants, it is strenuously opposed on ob- 
vious grounds by those churches whose members belong 
to the smaller nations. Also it is evident that their na- 
tional pride and affinities will lead the Protestant Germans 
of Hungary to oppose any suggestion of separation which 
would sever the connection of Hungary with German 
Austria. 

Now, as in the past, the religious and political ques- 
tions are closely interwoven, and it is merely an historical 
continuation which puts the Roman Catholic Church in 
opposition to Germanism in Austria and to the policy of 
generosity to the smaller nations in Hungary. 



CHAPTER XII 

PAN-GERMANISM 

The contest between Teuton and Slav is, as we Have seen 
already, no new one. It has been the motif, not always 
clearly marked but never altogether absent, of a series of 
struggles changing in fortune as in character, sometimes 
political, sometimes religious, but always capable of being 
resolved into the simple constituents of race antagonism 
which have made up most of the history of Central and 
Eastern Europe. It is true that the various branches of 
the Slavs have been far from loyal to their racial ties, and 
have resented encroachments by each other as by an alien 
race, but in the main the history of Central and Eastern 
Europe is the history of the Slav struggle for independ- 
ence against the Teuton on the west and the Turk on the 
east. To-day, in the remarkable renaissance of the scat- 
tered Slav nations it is natural that one should find an 
attempt to resuscitate the racial as well as the national 
feelings, and pan-Slavism may well be considered as a 
possible factor in European development. On the other 
hand, there is the great pan-German movement, not an 
attempt (like that of the Slavs) to revive and regain, but 
a more organised and definite effort to hold for Germany 
what Germans have gained for themselves. Between these 
two great currents which find their meeting place in the 
whirlpool of the Habsburg realm lies Hungary, by some 

250 



PAN-GERMANISM 251 

strange fate isolated, foreign, apart — the cuckoo in the 
robin's nest of Slav Europe, but equally the barrier against 
German expansion eastwards. 

No attempt to understand the present position of Aus- 
tria-Hungary would be complete without some apprecia* 
tion of these two great currents in the political and na- 
tional evolution of the Slav and Teuton. The reader of 
this book is already aware that the subjects of the Habs- 
burgs are predominantly Slav, but that at the same time 
the civilisation, the government, and the language of a 
considerable part of Austria is German; that the tie with 
Germany is a close one, and that a proportion, at all events, 
of the population is enthusiastically and patriotically Ger- 
man in its sympathies without ceasing to be Austrian. 
There is, however, an extreme section which disclaims all 
Austrian nationality, refers openly to Germany as its 
fatherland, and proclaims its belief that only under the 
Hohenzollerns will Austria find peace and progress. Be- 
fore describing the tenets of this section further we must 
try briefly to define that pan-Germanic movement which 
has been their inspiration. 

It is always difficult to trace the actual origin and growth 
of any movement which is not precise and definite, and it 
must be premised that, although there is no lack of pre- 
cision about certain sections of the pan-Germans and their 
views, yet as a whole the movement is somewhat indefinite. 
Taken in its broadest sense it is an attempt to strengthen 
" Deutschthum " throughout the world and to bind all 
Germans by ties of patriotism as well as race to the Father- 
land. The Teutonic countries of Europe, which by a some- 



252 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

what tortuous process of reasoning are expected to regard 
the modern German empire as their fatherland, in- 
clude the Low-German countries (Holland and Belgium) 
Switzerland, and Scandinavia. It is obvious that only the 
wildest of Chauvinist dreamers would imagine the actual 
annexation of all these to Germany as possible, nor is 
actual warfare in the programme of the pan-Germans, who 
are Irredentists rather than Chauvinists. It is the civilisa- 
tion of Germany, the ties of intellect and race, by virtue of 
which these countries are to be reclaimed and to form one 
day a vast German confederacy. 

Besides countries originally Teutonic in origin, there 
are many in which this indefatigable race has formed colo- 
nies and settlements and where, as in Bohemia, they at one 
time almost displaced the original inhabitants. Of late 
years the enormous growth and increasing energy of the 
German empire has driven her into a fresh expansion over- 
seas, and the mission of pan-Germanism in its rational 
form is to link up these scattered units, and by maintaining 
in them the sentiment of nationality, preserve them as the 
instruments and apostles of Deutschthum. 

The pan-Germanic sphere of activity is therefore prac- 
tically world-wide. It covers Europe — Scandinavia, Den- 
mark, the Baltic provinces, Bohemia, Austria, the Tyrol, 
parts of Hungary, the Balkan states, Turkey in Europe, 
Switzerland, Holland, and Belgium. Besides these there 
is a pan-Germanic propaganda in Asia Minor and in South 
Africa, where an attempt has been made to establish ties 
of kinship with the Boers as " Low Germans." In the 
American continent there are to be seen at work two dis- 



PAN-GERMANISM 253 

linct phases of pan-Germanic work, one which aims at pre- 
serving the national sentiment of the individual who is 
being rapidly assimilated by the United States, and the 
other in South America, where a genuine colonisation pol- 
icy is being successfully pursued. There are, besides these, 
a vast number of Germans distributed throughout the 
whole civilised world, engaged usually in commerce or in 
educational work, particularly in Russia, and it is safe to 
say that in these isolated units a strong sentiment is aroused 
by the pan-Germanic ideals. The spectacle of so many of 
the fine fleur of the fatherland being forced by economic 
pressure to seek their fortunes in other countries and there 
being assimilated has naturally been a bitter one to patri- 
otic Germans, but even before this latest phase (which can 
only be said to date from the industrial evolution of Ger- 
many) there already existed the germ of the Pan-German 
propaganda. As early as 1853 Paul de Lagarde (a curi- 
ous name for the chief saint of the pan-German cult!) was 
urging that the Germanic peoples should control the Dan- 
ube, colonise Asia Minor, and so find their way to the 
East. This is not the history of the pan-Germanic move- 
ment, merely an attempt to define its scope, so that we may 
appreciate its bearing upon Austria-Hungary, and it is im- 
possible to trace the growth of the idea or to explain the 
attitude of its various protagonists. It is sufficient to note 
that at one period it met with a considerable degree of offi- 
cial encouragement and that the Emperor William II gave 
it his imprimatur in the following speech, made in 1896, 
the year of the Jameson Raid. He said: " Out of the 
German empire a world empire has arisen. Everywhere 



254 'THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

in all parts of the earth thousands of our countrymen 
reside. German riches, German knowledge, German ac- 
tivity make their way across the ocean. The value of 
German possessions on the seas is some thousands of 
millions. Gentlemen, the serious duty devolves on you 
to help me to link this Greater German Empire close to 
the fatherland, by helping me, in complete unity, to fulfil 
my duty also towards the Germans in foreign parts." 

This pronouncement, be it noted, is in the nature of an 
exhortation and a pious aspiration. No policy is chalked 
out, no specal method indicated. The aim itself is ex- 
pressed in language which may be interpreted according to 
the idiosyncrasies of the hearer, and might refer to a mere 
cultural and moral empire or to a more tangible political 
one. Naturally the ruler of a state at peace with the world 
at that moment was not likely to give offence to friendly 
governments by the suggestion that Germans domiciled in 
foreign countries were to be practically or politically 
" gathered in." 

There are now two aspects of pan-Germanism, suffi- 
ciently broad in their scope to win the suffrages of the most 
diverse schools of thought and unite them in a common 
aim. The first and rational interpretation is, as we have 
already indicated, that which is concerned with Deutsch- 
thum as a cultural and moral influence and seeks to per- 
petuate the tie of Germans with their fatherland and to 
glorify the race and empire by the spread of Germanic 
civilisation. The second, and far more definite and active 
propaganda, sees in every German colony or settlement 
(much more in old Teutonic countries) a part of a future 



PAN-GERMANISM 255 

confederacy of all the Germans. We shall see shortly by 
what means this propaganda is disseminated, but first it 
must be recorded that the pan-Germanic leagues began 
their active work at a time when the tide, which had borne 
their race successfully for so long, seemed to be actually 
turning. 

One of the singularities of the German character, so full 
of the highest virtues and most sterling qualities, is the 
ease with which the individual lends himself to assimila- 
tion. This has become most noticeable in the United 
States, where it is estimated that there are now over eleven 
million Germans, of whom some eight millions were born 
in the country. Despite the retention in certain quarters of 
certain towns of characteristic features in German social 
life, despite an attempt to keep up German schools and 
clubs and the propaganda of the pan-Germans, it is unde- 
niable that these people in the second generation, if not 
in the first, become American in sympathy, in habit, and 
even in intellectual outlook. Politically their conversion 
does not require more than a few years, and the tradition 
of Prussian discipline is replaced by the most blatant form 
of democratic fervour. It was a German immigrant who, 
thumping the table at a stump meeting, shouted : " Amer- 
ica — my country — right or wrong! " 

But even nearer home the emigrant German is inclined 
to lose his nationality. It is estimated that over two mil- 
lions are now settled in Russia, and in parts attempts have 
been made to preserve their national characteristics through 
the medium of schools, language, and customs. The suc- 
cess of the attempt may be gauged by the fact that in all 



256 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Russia there are now but two German schools — one at 
HelsingfOrs and one at Riga. The policy of Germanisa- 
tion in the eastern provinces of Prussia (which are Slav in 
population) has been rigorously pursued. The use of 
Polish is forbidden, letters addressed in that language will 
not be forwarded, and all Polish institutions are repressed. 
There is a large settlement fund for buying up land and 
settling German peasants on it, by which it was hoped to 
replace the agricultural population by true Teutons, but 
neither this nor any other measure has been at all success- 
ful. The Poles continue to increase and are a thorn in the 
side of the German empire. 1 At the same time a counter- 
movement of Russification has been going on in the Baltic 
provinces which owed their civilisation to German sources 
and were largely colonised by Germans. There is still a 
considerable proportion of Germans among the intellec- 
tual classes, the prominent men have German names, and 
there are theatres and newspapers which use the German 
language. Since 1881 the policy of Russia has been to 
denationalise these Germans as well as all non-Russian 
peoples throughout the empire, and accordingly privileges 
accorded to German-speaking communities and corpora- 
tions have been curtailed and cancelled. The University 

1 Prince von Billow has declared that the Polish question is the most vitally 
important in German home politics. He favored a return to the most rigorous 
policy of repressing Polish, which, however, is deprecated by many people 
who say it will put German education in the wrong and furnish Polish agita- 
tors with an effective weapon. In August, 1906, the Prussian minister of edu- 
cation ordered German to be used for prayers and religious instruction, but 
the children, instigated by their parents, refused to say the Lord' s prayer in 
German, and their obedience cannot be enforced. At the time of writing the 
Struggle continues. 




PEASANT WEDDING, GALICIA 




ST. BARBARA CHURCH, CRACOW 



PAN-GERMANISM 257 

of Dorpat, founded in 1630 and an ancient centre of Ger- 
man culture, has been deprived of its autonomy and Rus- 
sianised, marriages between Protestants and members of 
the Russian Church are forbidden, and the Russian lan- 
guage is compulsory in the law-courts. Even the German 
names of towns are being once more Slavicised. This is a 
heavy blow to German amour propre, for she has always 
prided herself on having been the guiding star of Russian 
civilisation, and she was the centre of learning and culture 
while Russia was still a congeries of half-savage tribes. 
Therefore the Russo-German situation (despite the dictum 
of Bismarck that friendship was essential between the two 
nations) is not without its bitter pills, but this is a side of 
the question to be referred to later. 

To return to the emigrant German. In France, where 
there is an estimated German population of 100,000, there 
are only two elementary schools, but this must not be taken 
too seriously, since the children of Germans both in France 
and England can be educated in their home-land. Never- 
theless, a large proportion of those domiciled in England 
are educated there. In the Tyrol, where there is a par- 
tially Teutonic original population, a curious historic de- 
velopment has alienated sympathy from Germany. The 
Germans have annexed William Tell as one of their na- 
tional heroes, but as a matter of fact he represented an 
entirely different phase of national manifestation. The 
Tyrolese are intensely averse to any form of German dom- 
ination, and their resistance to the Bavarians was as des- 
perate as to the French. At the present time Italian influ- 
ence and language are slowly but steadily gaining gross : ' 



258 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

in the Tyrol. The Catholic priesthood, it must be noted, 
being opposed to German liberal ideas (and especially to 
German socialism, which is almost invariably indifferent to 
religion) , is helping in the Tyrol, as in Moravia and Bo- 
hemia, to undermine the German schools. In other of the 
Austrian lands, in Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, a de- 
spised, almost illiterate and forgotten tongue has been 
successfully revived as a rival to the great German lan- 
guage. The Slovenes, having since 1882 secured a major- 
ity in their diet in Carniola, have proceeded to declare 
Slovenian the " customary " language and to found a 
Slovene gymnasium at Laibach. In Carinthia even towns 
with a majority of German-speaking inhabitants are com- 
pelled to use Slovenian in official and public life. The story 
of the language and racial struggle in Bohemia has been 
told elsewhere. The tide has turned in this country more 
than in any other. In Switzerland the most casual tourist 
who revisits the country may notice the increase of the 
French-speaking element compared to the German, and 
despite the enormous economic pressure on the Low Coun- 
tries a similar process is at work there. In short, Germany 
has been losing every day, by small but steady instal- 
ments, drops of that precious fluid of national life which, 
conserved in the hearts of loyal Germans throughout the 
world, would soon make this prolific and enterprising race 
the true cosmopolitan, and would render Deutschthum 
the most potent force in world history. It is estimated that 
twenty-one millions of German-speaking people live in 
Europe outside the German empire. 

The pan-Germanic movement cannot be said to be or- 



PAN-GERMANISM 259 

ganised into a single central body, although there is one 
called the Pan-Germanic League. It is rather the guiding 
principle of a number of societies and associations dealing 
with various phases of German expansion. The Pan-Ger- 
manic League naturally has its headquarters at Berlin, and 
its organ is the Alldeutsche Blatter. The League dates 
the beginning of its success to a reorganisation in 1894 
and the leadership of Professor Hasse, and in 1903 it num- 
bered some twenty thousand subscribing members. An 
example of the nature of its work may be given in the jour- 
ney, in 1905, of its secretary to South Africa, where he 
personally visited all the German settlements, interviewed 
the Dutch leaders, and afterwards published a clever book 
in which a strong case was made out for the extension of 
Germany's influence in South Africa. Besides the main 
body, however, there are at least fifty associations affili- 
ated with it. Of these the most important is the General 
School Association for the preservation of Deutschthum 
abroad. The society is peculiarly interesting in regard to 
its work in Austria-Hungary, where it was first started as 
an answer to the Badeni language ordinances and what was 
considered the surrender to the Slavs. 

We have already seen that in Hungary all the subject 
races are expected to fall in with the Magyar ideas and 
adopt their scheme for a united Hungarian nation. Many 
of the German settlers in Hungary, who from time imme- 
morial had enjoyed complete autonomy or special privi- 
leges, had thrown in their lot with the Magyars in the time 
of war and fought against Austria. There are three di- 
visions of these German settlers, the Zip towns of the Car- 



2 6o THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

pathian slopes, the Swabians in the south, and the Saxons 
of Transylvania. The Swabians (who are Catholics) and 
the Zips were some of the most obstinate revolutionaries 
of 1848. Now they are threatened with absorption and 
the loss of their national idiosyncrasies. The assimilative 
process has done this to a great extent for Germans dwell- 
ing among the Magyars, but the independent settlements 
were peculiarly tenacious of their nationality, which, in 
time past, had set them apart and secured them a special 
position in the country. The Magyars refused to allow 
the intervention of the School Association through Vienna, 
and the Berlin Society was therefore obliged to subsidise 
private German schools to carry on the work. The mani- 
festo which accompanied this effort was not calculated to 
pour oil on troubled waters or to smooth the path of Ger- 
man educationists among the proud Magyars. It called on 
" the forty million who in Germany enjoy all the blessings 
of German culture to come to the rescue . . . wher- 
ever modern methods of barbarism dare to trample upon 
German education." But the Magyars will not tolerate 
any disruptive influence, and on this point are absolutely 
united. 

Other associations connected with pan-Germanism which 
are specially designed to rescue Deutschthum in Austria are 
the German League in Bohemia, the German Bohemian 
Forest League, the German People's Bank in Bohemia, 
the German League in north and south Moravia, the South 
" Mark " Association and People's Savings Bank at Gratz, 
the Ulrich Miners' League, Germanic League in Vienna, 
German National Association in Austria, the East 



PAN-GERMANISM 261 

" Mark " Self-Help Association, the German People's 
Union in South Tyrol, and others of a similar character. 
There are a great number of economic associations whose 
work is directly helpful to pan-Germanism, besides certain 
religious or semi-religious societies doing pan-German 
work. The " Odin," a politico-religious society having 
headquarters at Munich, devotes itself to a Protestant- 
nationalist propaganda in Austria. The character of its 
work may be judged from the fact that the distribution of 
its official organ is prohibited in Austria, but it still has a 
considerable circulation, while it indemnifies itself by the 
dissemination of treasonable postcards. The Gustav- 
Adolf and the Evangelical Protestant missions are both 
active in Austria and took a prominent part in the semi- 
political " Los von Rom " movement, but there is a coun- 
terbalance in the shape of a vigorous Catholic German 
Society, the St. Raphael, which supports German national- 
ity on Catholic lines. A large amount of money is ex- 
pended annually in Austria and the Austrian " lands " in 
supporting pan-German work. In Bohemia there is a 
heavily subsidised German press keeping alive the German 
sentiment, while in Vienna a number of the papers (includ- 
ing the influential Neue Freie Press e) are notorious for 
their advocacy of German interests. The connection 
between the press of Vienna and the Foreign Office (Press- 
bureau) at Berlin is extremely intimate, but the pan-Ger- 
mans, who are not officially recognised, have their own 
methods of influencing the press. 

In 1899 the Pan-German League issued a pamphlet 
which, although proscribed in Austria, was widely cir- 



262 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

culated. This pamphlet is interesting because it illustrates 
the extreme view of the pan-German role when the Austro- 
Hungarian monarchy shall no longer succeed in holding to- 
gether. The ideal set forth is the consolidation of the 
Germanic peoples from the Baltic to the Adriatic in one 
vast German confederation under the Hohenzollern em- 
peror (it is freely declared by pan-Germans in Austria that 
the Habsburg period is over and that the Hohenzollerns 
must succeed them). This vast confederation will include 
a kingdom of Austria (Upper and Lower Austria, Carin- 
thia, and Carniola), under a Hohenzollern prince; a 
" South Mark," consisting of the southern duchies, Salz- 
burg and the Tyrol going to Bavaria; and a strategic 
frontier to cover the Adriatic and coast towns, which will 
be the base of a German Mediterranean fleet. Bohemia 
will be made a present to Saxony, who must assimilate the 
four and a half million Czechs as best she may, while 
Moravia and Silesia, with two million Czechs and half a 
million Poles, will be the share of Prussia. It may be noted 
that history repeats itself. The pan-Germans have revived 
the nomenclature of an early Teutonic empire. Denmark 
and Schleswig-Holstein are the " North Mark," Austria 
the " East Mark," the southern " lands " of Austria the 
" South Mark." Holland and Belgium presumably are 
to be the " West Mark " in this future empire of all the 
Germans. Thus did Napoleon, in a similar dream of re- 
viving an empire beside which that of Charlemagne would 
have been a mushroom, recall the name of Illyria and re- 
shape for himself a realm of continental magnitude, united, 
like that of Rome, by a code of universal law. The pan- 



PAN-GERMANISM 263 

Germanic dream as demonstrated in this pamphlet is only 
valuable because it reveals at once the weak spot in any 
scheme of German expansion in Europe. 

At present Germany has a population which is 94 per 
cent. Teutonic. But she has already, as we have seen, con- 
siderable trouble with that minority of Slav blood found 
in her northeastern corner. Prussia, it has been said 
already, was originally entirely Slav in population. The 
Mark of Brandenburg grew by conquest over Slavs, and 
Prussia enlarged her boundaries at the expense of Poland. 
Even to-day Slav is spoken at the gates of Berlin, for there 
are colonies of Sorabes, or Sorbs, in Lusatia who are 
said to be kin to the Slavs of Southern Europe. The tenac- 
ity of the Slav race feeling is one of the most striking 
phenomena in European history. If the pan-German 
scheme were realised (even with the elimination of Buko- 
wina, Galicia, and Dalmatia, which is proposed) , the per- 
centage of Germans in the reorganised empire would be 
reduced to eighty-four. Moreover, this settlement would 
leave out in the cold the Germans of Hungary, who, with 
the Magyars and Roumans, would be left to work out their 
own salvation. The truth is, of course, that no political 
rearrangement which is geographically possible would re- 
store the Germans to their fatherland, nor is it possible 
to attempt a political partition on an ethnographic basis. 
To take the various partitions separately: The Czechs 
would eat up Saxony before Saxony could get her teeth in 
them, for the public opinion of Europe would not tolerate 
the ruthless annihilation of an earlier epoch which crippled 
them in the past, and the Czechs are incontestably the more 



264 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

aggressive of the two peoples. The Poles of Silesia and 
the Moravians of various races would help to turn the 




HD German 
VZ& Italian 
Hee3 Ladiniarv 



— ■ »i ''vani 



RACES IN THE TYROL 

tide against Prussianisation, and nothing but extermina- 
tion could root out their invincible conservatism and patri- 
otism. Moravia is spoken of frequently as if she had little 



P A N - G E R M A N I S M 265 

identity, but she preserved the independence of her Estates 
even through a religious persecution which enslaved the 
best part of Europe for a time. Take the Tyrol again — 
she will have none of Bavaria, now as in the past. The 
Swiss are partly German in culture, but they have no sym- 
pathy with German imperialism. Will Italy look on un- 
moved while Germany advances to the southern slope of 
the Alps ? The Trentino, commanding the plains of Lom- 
bardy, will not be surrendered to Deatschthum without a 
struggle, and both this region and Trieste are ardently 
devoted to the cause of Italia irredenta. 

The strongest centre of pan-Germanism is in Austria 
proper. Here, as nowhere else, it is a definite political 
propaganda and party. In Germany it has no such posi- 
tion. There are no " pan-German " members, no recog- 
nised party, no elections fought on Pan-German principles. 
This is because within the German empire there can be no 
actual party or political aspect of pan-Germanism, which 
presents itself to the public as a national and not a politi- 
cal cult. If a man is labelled as a pronounced Pan-Ger- 
man he will still belong to one or other of the recognised 
political parties, and his pan-Germanism is a kind of extra 
polish. In Austria it is different. The struggle against 
the Slav, in which the German element appeared to have 
emerged victorious, has been revived. The moderate Aus- 
trian party, including many Catholic Germans, are Slav- 
ophil. They were not opposed to the rise of the Czechs 
and regarded the renascence of the Slavs generally as a 
counterpoise to the growth of the German free-thinking 
liberal element. A section (and a considerable one) of 



266 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

the German-Austrians regarded the granting of language 
and other privileges to the Slavs as the beginning of a 
Slav hegemony in Austria, whereby Germans, once the 
dominant race, would have to take a lower place. Racial 
rather than national pride and the desire to participate in 
German greatness were the keynotes of this movement, 
which found its most vigorous expression in the " Los von 
Rom " agitation already described. 

The pan-German associations were active agents in this 
movement. The religious bodies abused their privileges 
by mixing treason to the Austrian emperor with their at- 
tempts to convert from Roman Catholicism, and the dep- 
uty Wolf, the co-partner with Schoenerer in leading the 
agitation, frankly admitted that the sinews of war came 
from Germany. The doctrine preached then (and by no 
means abandoned now) is that the Germans in Austria, in 
order to combat the Slav danger, must turn to Germany 
for support, must make political and commercial union 
with the fatherland, and must renounce their allegiance 
to a dynasty which is allied with Catholicism and favours 
the Slavs. This propaganda has spread, and at the last 
election enabled the pan-German party to capture two seats 
from the Catholic Christian Socialists, the natural infer- 
ence being that the working class is becoming more and 
more infected with German socialism, which is indifferent 
to religion. 

Although Pan-Germanism in Austria is anti-Austrian 
and anti-dynastic, it has not been repressed with the severity 
that might have been expected. The wisdom of this policy 
will be discussed later. No scruples in this respect have, 



PAN-GERMANISM 267 

however, deterred the Magyars, and since 1902 a cam- 
paign has been instituted in Hungary against the Pan-Ger- 
man press, in which editors have been imprisoned and even 
deported. Other measures have been resorted to which 
have damaged, not only the Pan-Germanic work, but the 
legitimate and historic position of the German Hunga- 
rians, long settled in the country. Pan-Germans would like 
to see the Beriin government putting gentle pressure on 
Budapest, but the fact is that these Pan-Germanic excur- 
sions are proving far from convenient and are not to be 
smiled on officially. 

The irresponsibility of political idealists cannot be ac- 
cepted by a serious German government, which may use the 
propaganda at times but does not wish to be identified 
with or compromised by it. Therefore Hungary may suc- 
cessfully keep her pan-Germans in order, but the move- 
ment is a serious factor in Austrian politics, and, in a sub- 
sequent chapter, its further growth and influence must be. 
taken into consideration. 



CHAPTER XIII 

PAN-SLAVISM 

When we turn to the second great racial movement, the 
pan-Slavonic, we find at once a great difference both in 
the character and methods by which it is advanced. There 
is, in the first place, no focussing point, no fatherland, 
for the attempt made at various epochs to place Russia 
at the head of a Slav hegemony is naturally not altogether 
acceptable to other branches of the Slav race, who were 
advanced and civilised before " Holy Russia " had 
emerged from the status of a semi-barbarous, semi-Ori- 
ental vassal state of the Great Horde. Moreover, while 
the German Reformation has provided the pan-Germans 
with a rallying point at once national and religious, the 
Slavs are violently severed by the two Churches of East 
and West, between whom there is a fiercer rivalry than 
can divide even Catholic and Protestant. 

Nevertheless, the pan-Slavonic movement is not only of 
respectable antiquity, but has considerable importance in 
the polity of modern European states. The Slav race, or 
rather races, are numerically predominant in Eastern Eu- 
rope, their share of the continent being fairly compact 
except for the great wedge of Hungary. It must be re- 
membered that the countries of Russia, East Prussia, 
Bohemia, Galicia, the whole of the Balkan countries, 
European Turkey to a large extent, Montenegro, Croatia, 

268 



PAN-SLAVISM 269 

Dalmatia, and the greater part of the Austrian " lands " 
are either altogether or preponderatingly Slav, not only in 
race but in character and feeling. At the end of the eight- 
eenth century there were only three independent Slav states 
— only two over which some alien dynasty was not ruling. 
These three were the great empire of Russia, the tiny prin- 
cipality of Montenegro, and the small republic of Ragusa. 
But, as we have seen, the deprivation of national rights, 
even the imposition of an alien language, did not deprive 
the Slav of his birthright, and at the beginning of the 
twentieth century we have four important Slav states 
and an extraordinary revival of nationalism among the 
other branches of the race. At this auspicious moment 
comes the terrible upheaval in the Russian empire which, 
by breaking into anarchy, destroys the dreams of those 
pan-Slavists who had hoped to find in her the protagonist 
of a universal Slav revival. 

Although the Slav peoples settled all over Central and 
Eastern Europe, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, and from 
the Oder eastwards, yet their expansion was not without 
geographical elements of disunion. Their natural line of 
expansion was across the great plains of Southern Russia 
and on into the well-watered plateaux of North Germany, 
but when their migrations took them further south, fol- 
lowing the Danube first south and then east, they became 
involved in the geographical confusion of this part of 
Europe. Different characteristics developed among the 
Balkan mountains to those found in the fertile, well- 
watered Bohemian country, and as an entirely fresh set of 
problems was presented to each section of the race, so they 



270 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

developed on different lines. The Germanic tribes, later 
the German states and principalities (of which there were 
no fewer than several hundred shortly before the period of 
amalgamation) were homogeneous compared to these Slav 
states, and yet there is evidence that from an early age an 
attempt was made to keep up the feeling of kinship. 

The pan-Slavic political union, of the period which 
immediately precedes the Magyar invasion, was broken 
up by that foreign incursion into Slav countries, and by 
the blow struck at the heart of the Slav world which then 
beat in Moravia. After this time no actual political group- 
ing of all the scattered Slavs was ever again possible, but 
the rise to greatness, first of Bohemia and then of Poland, 
gathered different sections together for a time into mighty 
Slav empires. At the period of the modern Slav renas- 
cence no such development seems likely or possible. Still, 
while it is true that pan-Slavism has no rallying point, no 
common language (more of this hereafter), and no re- 
ligion, culture, or literature in common, yet the feeling of 
kinship between the Slav peoples is a real one, and it is the 
appreciation of this fact that has stimulated the pan-Ger- 
manists to such strenuous efforts in Central Europe. 

The pan-Slavist movement is not, as is sometimes sup- 
posed, the result of the Czech and other Slav revivals, but 
was in existence a considerable time ago. Not long after 
the downfall of Bohemia in 1620, we find the Polish am- 
bassador to Peter the Great dwelling upon the racial unity 
of the Slav peoples and predicting a third epoch of Slav 
history (following on those of prosperity and adversity) 
in which all the branches of the race shall unite " in frater- 



PAN-SLAVISM 271 

nal love, and return to their first state of union." This 
language is closely followed by the pan-Slavist Czech 
writers of the middle of last century. " We are a young 
people," said Kollar. " We know what the other peoples 
have done, but no one can yet divine what we shall one day 
be in the book of humanity. ... A hundred years 
hence the Slav life, like a deluge, will spread its power in 
every quarter.'^ 

After 1848 the reviving energy of the Slavs, although 
less organised than that of the Hungarians, continued to / , 
gain ground, and three sections of the race in subjection ^ 
developed independently of each other. These were the 
Poles, Czechs, and Croats. The eternal hope of all Poles 
to ultimately achieve the independence of their ancient 
kingdom found a centre at Cracow, where plots were 
hatched and plans discussed with the energy, eloquence, 
and futility so characteristic of Slav intrigue. The 
Czechs, a practical and sober variant on the Slav type, 
were chiefly absorbed, as we have seen, by an economic 
struggle, while the Croats began a literary and political 
movement of a revivalist character. 

It cannot be said, despite the flowery speeches and writ- 
ings of pan-Slavists, that the various subject races of Slavs 
played into each other's hands. In 1848 a conference of 
pan-Slavists was held, with a view to knitting up the ties 
of kinship, but it does not seem that any definite result was 
achieved, though the immediate consequence was the out- 
break of riots between Czechs and Germans and the bom- 
bardment and reduction of Prague by Prince Windisch- 
gratz. In 1862 the pan-Slavist agitation received fresh 



y 



272 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

impetus from the creation of a Bohemian Diet and from 
the growth of Czech liberty generally. 

It is necessary at this point to touch on a much-debated 
question — the linguistic unity of the Slav peoples. The 
most diverse opinions on this subject are given by people 
well qualified to judge. It was a gibe of the Germans, 
thrown at the pan-Slavist congresses, that the delegates 
could none of them understand each other and were com- 
pelled to converse in German. On the other hand, it is con- 
tended that a knowledge of Serbo-Croat, one of the oldest 
forms, will carry one not only through the Balkan coun- 
tries but in Russia, Poland, and Bohemia. M. Leger, who 
is enthusiastically Slavophil, does not lend his authority 
to this view. He describes a worthy Slovak, deceived by 
the bookmen of his own country, in hopeless difficulties 
with a Moscow douanier, with whom he had expected to 
communicate by virtue of their common Slav tongue. 

There are at present three main groups of the Slav 
language, if we may be permitted to use that term for the 
root principle which obtains in Eastern and Central Eu- 
rope. These three are Russian, Polish-Bohemian, and 
Serbo-Croat. 1 Each has its own history and literature. 
There are dialects, some older than the languages men- 
tioned, such as the Slovak and Slovene, but they cannot be 
put quite on the same plane. 

The source from which Christianity was received was a 
determining factor not only in the historical development 
of the Slav races but in the crystallisation of their various 

1 Bulgaria claims to have a distinct form and possesses an ancient literature, 
but, as is shewn later, it is in reality closely akin to the Serbo-Croat. 




JAGELLON (UNIVERSITY) LIBRARY AT CRACOW. 
STATUE OF COPERNICUS 



PAN-SLAVISM 273 

dialects into modern languages. The beginning of the 
Christian era in Bohemia and Poland was not till the ninth 
century. The former country possessed legends of an ear- 
lier period and stories of half mythical heroes, and this 
foundation of a national literature was of service in later 
days. We have seen how the attempt to establish at once 
a national caligraphy was opposed by the Latin Church, 
and in fact, during the epoch which preceded the Hussite 
national revival, Latin was the literary tongue of Bohemia 
as it was of Poland. Vernacular literature, properly so 
called, began in Bohemia in the fifteenth century, in Poland 
(as in England) in the sixteenth, though translations of 
various portions of the Bible, hymns, sermons, and a lit- 
urgy in the Slav tongue were in existence in both coun- 
tries considerably prior to this. Cracow University was 
founded in a humble form in 1364, Prague (in greater 
state) in 1348, and the influence of the literature of the 
Czechs, then at the height of their prosperity, was pre- 
dominant in Poland, as in other Slav countries. Polish stu- 
dents formed one of the " nations " which voted in the 
University of Prague, but they also went to Padua and to 
Paris. It is impossible to trace Polish civilisation and the 
development of that wonderful literature which still holds 
its own among the rich heritages of the Slav peoples, but 
it is necessary to show how close was the connection be- 
tween these two branches of the race, and, as the reader of 
history knows, they were more than once united under the 
same sovereign. Although modern Czech and modern 
Polish are considered as two languages, they are closely 
connected and may be regarded as the northern branch of 



274 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

the Slav tongue. Latin, although it was partially ousted 
in later years by the Hussite and German reformations, 
was undoubtedly a powerful factor in shaping the thought, 
civilising the life, and helping the development of literary 
and artistic perceptions which reached a high standard at 
so early a period as the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 
At this time the third great branch of the Slavs was still 
in the half-light of emergence from pagan and Oriental 
thraldom. The sixteenth century saw the consolidation of 
a political power which was to be the foundation of mod- 
ern Russia, but it was not until the seventeenth that Russia 
began to be considered worthy to be included in the Euro- 
pean system. At the end of that century arose the prince 
who, by virtue of his strength of will and character, set 
the seal of European civilisation firmly on his dominions. 
Peter the Great turned to the West for the reorganisation 
of his kingdom, and although he went to England, Hol- 
land, and France for his military and naval ideas, he asks, 
in a celebrated letter, to have Bohemian savants sent to 
his country that they may translate books into Russian, 
and he also wishes for Moravians and Silesians of similar 
capacity. At this period the existence of Slavs in Bohemia 
and Moravia (which were believed to be completely Ger- 
manised) was almost entirely ignored by the rest of Eu- 
rope. It is a curious fate which effaced the Czechs from 
the map of Europe at the very time when the greatest of 
the Slav powers was beginning her career. 

The attempt at a rapprochement of Slavs was not lim- 
ited to the Czechs. In 1617 Krijanich, a Croat, appealed 
to the Russian Tsar to come to the rescue of the Slavs of 



PAN-SLAVISM 275 

the Danube and the Balkans, making a strong plea for 
Slav solidarity. Like the Russians, the Serbo-Croatian- 
speaking peoples who made up the Southern Slavs were, 
and are, under the sway of Byzantine Christianity; but 
whereas in Russia there was unity in this matter, the Serbo- 
Croatians are divided, first by the fact that a section of 
them belong to the Latin Church, and still further by 
religious sects like those of the Bogomiles in past times and 
by the divisions of the patriarchal and exarchical churches 
within the orthodox fold itself. The Cyrillic or Byzantine- 
Slav character became that of Russia, and when that coun- 
try began to develop a national literature and art it was 
influenced to a marked degree by the East, or perhaps it 
is more correct to say that it shewed a cast, both of thought 
and expression, which was not European or derived from 
the West. No student of Russian life, character, or liter- 
ature can have failed to notice the Oriental strain which 
constantly obtrudes itself, despite the influence of certain 
Western schools of thought and expression, and it is a 
commonplace to say that even the modern Russian is half 
Oriental. 

This feature in the development of their national life 
and language cut them off, despite the utterances of pan- 
Slavists, from a great body of their southern Slavonic 
brethren. We are not directly concerned in this book with 
the Balkan States, nor is there space to differentiate the 
Bulgarian and Servian peoples and their early civilisations 
from those of other southern Slavs, with whom we are now 
concerned. In Bulgaria and in Roumania the Roman and 
Greek empires, and the influences emanating from them, 



276 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

were the decisive factors rather than any indigenous Slav 
national development, and in the principalities of Molda- 
via and Wallachia (now combined as Roumania) the 
state of society in the sixteenth century was still little more 
than savage. The language of literature (which must 
have been chiefly of a religious character) was Slav, but 
after the setting up of printing presses in Bucharest in 
1640, and at Jassy a few years later, Roumanian became 
the literary as well as the vernacular tongue. Roumania, 
it need hardly be said, is by virtue of the Roman blood 
and tradition which she cherishes so fondly, a Latin and 
not a Slav country, though the population was at one 
period similar to that of the neighbouring countries. 

Bulgaria, Slav in population, but deriving itsjiame and 
distinctive characteristics from a tribe of conquerors who 
came (tradition says) from the banks of the Volga and 
were probably Asiatic in origin, is now one of the rising 
Slav countries, and has always preserved a Slav language. 
The Bulgars may claim to be the most ancient of the Slav 
peoples, since their authentic history begins with their con- 
flicts with the Greek empire in the eighth and ninth cen- 
turies, and they were converted to Christianity by the 
earliest of Byzantine missionaries, their first Christian 
Tsar being Boris I., in 1064. It is said that he hesitated 
in his choice between the Latin and Greek churches, for 
the former had previously been active among the Slav 
countries of the Balkans, and the political and religious 
controversy between East and West had already begun. 
Bulgaria was, from the first, anxious to have a church of 
her own, and it is of the greatest interest to trace in the 



PAN-SLAVISM 277 

history of nearly a thousand years ago the same problems 
that are exercising men's minds to-day and to realise how 
narrow, in reality, is the scope of human experience, so that * 
we must go on fighting the same battles over and over 
again. Bulgaria had her period of greatness very early; 
her rulers assumed the title of Tsar five centuries before 
there were Tsars of Russia, and the golden age of Bulga- 
rian literature arrived as early as the tenth century, when 
there were quite a number of writers, historical and eccle- 
siastical, who used the Cyrillic character, and also a num- 
ber of translators from the Greek. The rich heritages of 
the Bulgarians in folk lore and song have been collected in 
later times, and the poetry is of a haunting melody, but 
belongs chiefly to the period of enslavement to the Turk 
and loss of national greatness. The eighteenth century 
saw a return to these sources and a revival of Bulgarian 
literature. The Bulgarian language, which has naturally 
undergone modifications since the very early period of its 
first literary efflorescence, differs somewhat from the Serbo- 
Croat, to which, however, it is closely akin. The influ- 
ences, cultural and political, of the East on Bulgaria have 
left their mark, while in Servia, the great empire which 
succeeded it in power among the southern Slavs, there has 
always been the thread of Latinism, interwoven with that 
of the Greek Church and the Byzantine capital, with which 
for some centuries Servia had close intercourse. The 
relations between the languages of Servia and Bulgaria 
are, however, too close to allow any doubt as to their 
essential unity. 

The Servians were Christianised in the same center*- :.s 



278 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

the Bulgarians and Moravians — the ninth, — but their 
growth to power was slower than that of their neighbours, 
the Bulgars, and their national development was propor- 
tionately later. Servia emerges from the condition of a 
loose federation of vassal chiefs under Byzantine suze- 
rainty in the fourteenth century, and under their great na- 
tional king and hero, Stephen Dusan, the country at once 
rose to the extreme height of its power and became a real 
Slavonic empire, with a territory stretching from the Save 
to the Gulf of Corinth and from the iEgean to the Adri- 
atic. This Slav empire had its own code of laws, a civili- 
sation which surprised visitors from the most advanced 
countries of Europe, and a literature in the vernacular. 
Like all Slav countries, Servia had an interesting folk lore 
and song, but on the whole the Servians of this golden 
period were too warlike a people to develop the softer side 
of life, and they never had time to enjoy the fruits of their 
victories. The empire of Dusan fell to pieces almost as 
rapidly as it was reared, and in the fifteenth century, weak- 
ened by dissensions with other Christian countries, and 
disunited within itself by differences of creed, Servia fell 
before the Turks. The story has been told elsewhere. As 
to its bearing on pan-Slavism, it is only necessary to 9ay 
that the conditions which prevented a Slav union in the 
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are present to-day, in 
the fatal disunion of the religious world which embitters 
relations between fellow-countrymen, and still more be- 
tween neighbouring countries. Bulgaria and Servia have 
been hereditary rivals, though kinsfolk, since the begin- 
ning of their history, and there is no bond of language, 




CATHOLIC SERIRANS, MOHACS (ON THE DANUBE) 




HUNGARIAN WOMEN, MOHACS (ON THE DANUBE) 



PAN-SLAVISM 279 

culture, or religion which is sufficient to unite them, 
though the exigencies of modern political life for small 
countries might be expected to do so. Undoubtedly pan- 
Slavists hope to work up the racial tie through literary 
reunion, but the past history of the two countries, and the 
extent to which their " historic claims " overlap, make 
agreement very difficult. 

The southern Slavs have had one phase of national 
efflorescence which is peculiarly interesting from the liter- 
ary and language standpoint. It centred (as has already 
been described) in the coast town and republic of Ragusa, 
which retained its independence when all the rest of the 
southern Slavs were more or less subjugated, either by 
Turks, Magyars, or Teutons. Before this debacle Ragusa 
had won her reputation. She was the centre of a remark- 
able literary and poetic movement which rivalled that of 
the Italian school, and was enthusiastically Slav in spirit 
and inspiration, although adopting the Latin form of ex- 
pression and being essentially a part of the European liter- 
ary renaissance. The Slav dialect used was examined by 
George Palmotich, a writer of the eighteenth century, 
who attempts to identify the Dalmatian or Illyrian lan- 
guage (Serbo-Croat, in fact) with the Czech of Bohemia, 
which had been recognised by Charles IV., in his Golden 
Bull, as necessary for imperial princes to learn. But this 
attempt and that of other Dalmatian writers were chiefly 
an effort to console their depressed little country for its pri- 
vate misfortunes by linking it up with the great lands to 
which it was racially related, and by recalling past great- 
ness to banish the memory of present insignificance. It is 



2 8o THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

interesting to remember that, in the islands of Dalmatia, 
there still linger fragments of the earliest form of literary 
Slav in the shape of a liturgy written in Glagolitza. 

The greatest differences of opinion exist as to this 
ancient Slav form of writing, which some authorities have 
tried to connect with the so-called " Sarmatian " inscrip- 
tions. While the authenticity of the latter remains to be 
proved, an examination of Glagolitza seems to establish 
a close connection between it and the cursive Greek of the 
seventh and eighth centuries. There are two forms of 
Glagolitza, the Bulgarian and the Croat, and quite a num- 
ber of manuscripts have been unearthed in this writing, the 
earliest authentic document, however, being a signature on 
a manuscript of 982. Glagolitza is a difficult and involved 
form of writing, and would never have held its own against 
Cyrillic but for the opposition of the Church to the latter. 
Attempts were made to introduce it into Bohemia and 
Moravia at different periods, under the rather mistaken 
idea that it represented a more distinctive form of Slav 
than that written in Cyrillic characters, but it only survived 
in Croatia, where it was used in a lay as well as a clerical 
form, and finally (as already said) in the islands of the 
Dalmatian coast, where a Glagolitza liturgy is still in use. 
Cyrillic is used side by side with Latin among the Serbo- 
Croats to-day; the Latin character is used by the Bohemian- 
Polish group and the Slovaks and Slovenes. 

Whatever doubts may be cast on the possibility of union 
between the scattered sections of the Slavs, it is impos- 
sible to discount the influence of the strong racial and na- 
tionalist propaganda in Dalmatia, where at present Austria 




OLD CLOISTERS OF THE FRANCISCANS, RAGUSA 



PAN-SLAVISM 281 

imposes her rule without for a moment penetrating below 
the surface of national life. Closely allied with the history 
of Dalmatia is that of Croatia, which was an independ- 
ent constitutional kingdom until the twelfth century and 
attained to a very respectable degree of internal organisa- 
tion and civilisation, always on purely Slav lines. The 
kingly title had been bestowed upon the Croat rulers since 
the tenth century, as vassals either of Eastern or Western 
empires, but in 1076 the Pope bestowed the kingly title 
direct on Zvonimir, who was crowned at Spalato and 
whose usual place of residence was Zara in Dalmatia. The 
union of the Croatian crown with that of Hungary and 
the final loss of national independence have not prevented 
the Croats from preserving jealously their Slav traditions. 
The conditions of life and religion have been described 
elsewhere, and the only essential difference between the 
Croats and their near kinsmen in Servia and Bosnia is 
that the former hardy, brave, and patient people never 
fell under the Turkish yoke. Like the Poles and Magyars, 
they were for centuries the sentinels of Europe against the 
East, and their strenuous lives and fighting qualities were 
calculated to develop the hardier virtues, but were not a 
fertile soil for the flower of national life. Nevertheless, 
modern research has revealed many ancient works, chiefly 
of a religious character, written in the ancient Glagolitza 
character which, as we have seen, had its most permanent 
home in this region. For the real literary development of 
the Serbo-Croatian peoples one must, however, turn to 
Ragusa, which was their rallying point when the condi- 
tions of their own countries no longer permitted the growth 



h~ 



2S2 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

of national literatures. We have seen a Croat of the 
seventeenth century developing a scheme of pan-Slavist 
union, but it was reserved for the Napoleonic invasion to 
reawaken, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, a 
genuine racial enthusiasm among the southern Slavs. 

A glance at one of the sketch maps in this volume 
will indicate the extent of the kingdom which the Cor- 
sican Caesar grouped together and called Illyria, in a man- 
ner which might appear both arbitrary and fanciful, but 
which was in its way a stroke of genius. Illyria, intended 
to recall the Illyrian provinces of the Roman empire, was 
a fleeting kingdom and resolved into its component parts 
when the Napoleonic empire crumbled away. But the re- 
grouping accomplished for the southern Slavs an extraor- 
dinary renascence. It divorced them violently from that 
Germanic world to which a great portion of them (the 
Slovenes) are tied and from the Magyar domination in 
the case of Croatia, and by throwing them back on a 
period before their subjection to diverse disruptive influ- 
ences, and by organising them once more as a Slav king- 
dom, it helped more than any mere political or literary 
propaganda could have done to quicken their sense or 
racial unity and destiny. At the same time the intelligence 
and sympathy of the French, and their interest in reviving 
the Slav and opposing the German element, were instru- 
mental in stimulating the literary renascence which was 
necessary to revive racial pride. The most interesting 
phase of this Illyrian revival is to be found in the ancient 
Slav duchies so long attached to the Habsburg dynasty as 
to be considered completely Austrian. 



PAN-SLAVISM 283 

The Slovenes of Carinthia, Carniola, and Styria have 
retained little trace of an early literature. Their language 
was little known, and is a Slav dialect rather than a lan- 
guage, although it has been provided with a grammar. 
The double weight of Latinism and Teutonism imposed 
upon these Slav countries by Church and State did not leave 
the Slovenes much of their national traditions, and it is one 
of the wonders of Slav renascence that this denationalising 
force, to which no organised resistance was opposed, should 
have failed to extinguish the spark of Slav nationality. 
Like other peoples, the Slovenes stooped to conquer. The 
tide has passed over their heads and now the back-wash 
brings them up again. The centre of their revival was 
the little town of Laibach, where, by a caprice of Napo- 
leon, Francis Nodier became librarian. This was the Slo- 
vene town where, in 161 6, the Habsburgs and the Jesuits 
had burned thousands of volumes written and collected by 
the school of religious and political reformers who echoed 
the Bohemian revolt against Catholicism and Germanism, 
being deeply influenced by Luther and the German Refor- 
mation. It has been recorded in another chapter how the 
whole of the Styrian nobility, save seven families, were 
deprived of their estates for their adherence to the re- 
formed faith, and the Counter Reformation was more suc- 
cessful here than in other parts of the Habsburg domains, 
since Catholicism regained her hold on the Slovenes. To 
return to Laibach and the influence of the French. After 
the Illyrian period the Slovenes never again allowed them- 
selves to lose their sense of racial distinctness, and we have 
seen how, by slow degrees, they have consolidated their 



284 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

position. The constitution granted by the Emperor to all 
his lands restored to them the autonomy so dear to the 
Slavs, and which, be it noted, they understand so well how 
to use. They have used it to such good purpose that to- 
day they have Slovene schools, use their language in mu- 
nicipal public life and in their diets, and return Slovene 
deputies to the Reichsrath. Their literary revival is some- 
what jealous of being confounded with the Serbo-Croatian, 
and their dialect is in fact different from any other which 
has assumed literary form, being naturally entirely free 
from the Cyrillic or Byzantine element. The movement 
is a provincial rather than a national or racial one, and in 
this respect it resembles one other phase of Slav revival, 
that of the Slovaks of North Hungary, while the use made 
by the Catholic Church of both movements to oppose the 
advance of liberalism and religious indifferentism marks a 
second point of similarity. 

The Slovaks, the last in our litany of pan-Slavism, live 
in a beautiful district of Northwest Hungary, and are the 
descendants of the Moravian peoples annexed by the Mag- 
yars at an early date in their own history, but at a time 
when Moravia was just ceasing to be the premier Slav 
state in a vast confederacy. The Slovaks are a simple 
people, in a primitive stage of development, but with the 
usual Slav tenacity they have maintained their racial dis- 
tinctiveness even in the teeth of the absorbing force of 
Hungarianism. Nevertheless they had no special propa- 
ganda, no sense of racial or religious grievance (the only 
sources of a successful propaganda) until in recent times 
it suited certain political parties to work it up. The Slo- 



- H v^^ft^^^l 


s ;B mi 




-•.r'^fe^JB Bit 1st. 1 


Bfe ' - 




1 




PAN-SLAVISM 285 

vaks are chiefly exploited by the clerical party to form a 
counterpoise to the growing liberalism in Hungary. There 
are now newspapers in Slovak, which have a considerable 
circulation because the people, otherwise illiterate, have 
always been taught to read in the Bohemian Bible, a cus- 
tom not departed from when they were reconverted from 
the Bohemian religion to the Roman Catholic Church. 
The pan-Slavist movement which is at present being engi- 
neered among these people must, therefore, be regarded 
as different in its foundation from that of any other Slav 
country, and, although the racial feeling is spreading, it is 
solely with relation to the political phenomena of Hun- 
gary and is not affected either by the Czech agitation (with 
which Slovaks have no special sympathy because the 
Czechs have wanted to impose their own literary language 
on them) or with the Slav renascence of the South. 2 The 
so-called pan-Slavism of the Slovaks is nothing more than 
an attempt to resist Magyarisation, originally engineered 
by a Magyar party for its own purposes, but tending more 
and more to form into a little obstructive and defensive 
cave of its own. By careful gerrymandering the Magyars 
keep this Slovak party from becoming numerous in the 
parliament at Budapest, but these two millions of Slavs 
will be a force to reckon with if universal suffrage gives 
them a chance. 

Such are the elements in which certain writers profess 

2 Until 1840 the Slovaks can hardly be said to have had a literary 
language distinct from that of the Czechs, but since that time the Slovaks 
of Hungary have developed an independent form, although in Eastern 
Moravia the Slovaks attend Czech schools and use the Czech language 
in writing and reading. 



286 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

to find the component parts of a pan-Slavic union or 
league. As a serious political idea it is altogether chimer- 
ical, and, as we began by saying, there is no organisation, 
no machinery, no funds (like those at the disposal of the 
pan-Germans). Pan-Slavism is a politico-ethnological 
theory, a cult, an aspiration. 

The entirely different stages of evolution, the different 
ideals, religions, and languages which divide the Slav peo- 
ples, make any general scheme of pan-Slavism imprac- 
ticable. In its most plausible form the cult presupposes an 
altogether successful and magnificent Russia attracting be- 
neath her sheltering wing some of the scattered Slav 
nations of similar religion and with affinities eastwards 
rather than westwards. This dream has been shattered 
for at least a century to come, perhaps forever, by the 
events of 1905 and 1906. But at the moment of Russia's 
— autocratic Russia's — greatest brilliance there was much 
in her to repel rather than attract those Slav races which 
had won back to the more genuine Slav traditions of gov- 
ernment on democratic lines, whereas Russia was an Ori- 
ental oligarchy. 3 Then there is the peculiar position of 
Bohemia. This book has been written in vain if it has 
failed to convey to the reader the extraordinary possibili- 
ties of the Czech people, endowed alike with proud his- 
torical traditions and practical modern energy. No Slav 
people have achieved so high a position as the Czechs. 
They are first in the Slav world, not by reason of territo- 

3 The struggling renascence of the Slovaks has received .neither pecuniary 
aid nor sympathy from Russia, although she supports Slavism in the Balkans. 
The strict orthodoxy of the Russian Slavs has been an impenetrable barrier 
between her and other Slav peoples. 




CATHOLIC VILLAGERS, HERZEGOVINA 



PAN-SLAVISM 287 

rial conquest or brilliant artistic achievement, but because, 
while still struggling for national independence, they have 
succeeded in that most difficult task of reshaping them- 
selves and accomplishing internal reforms. It is the boast 
of Bohemia that in education, as in industries, she is the 
first country of the Austrian lands and could compete even 
with modern German states in these respects, while at the 
same time in the artistic side of her national life, literature, 
music, painting, and the sister arts, she continues to hold 
her own against the world. It may well be asked, there- 
fore, how this brilliant, patient, virile, and successful peo- 
ple could be expected to take any but a first place in a Slav 
hegemony. Their geographical position, however, makes 
this almost impossible, and even were it possible we have 
seen that the little Slav peoples nearest to her, even the 
Slovaks of Northern Hungary, are not inclined to join in a 
union in which they would be eclipsed and possibly ab- 
sorbed by their brilliant neighbours. Not one of the Slav 
peoples, be it noted, would cede the right of their own form 
of language or their own national literature, delved up 
from an almost forgotten past, to be the true and original 
form and the one which should predominate in a Slav 
union. Not one would abate a jot of their national preten- 
sions (which frequently clash) , and all are intensely jealous 
on the subject of religion and resent any attempt to bind 
them more closely to one of the great churches. While 
pan-Slavism, therefore, is chiefly a form of speech, there is 
a genuine movement — Slavism — which in the last century 
caused the upheaval of Eastern Europe and is at work 
preparing fresh developments and perhaps some surprises. 



288 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Although the possibility does not enter into a scheme of 
pan-Slavism, and is therefore foreign to this chapter, it 
may be mentioned here that combinations among sections 
of the southern Slavs are not impossible. Slavism has 
many supporters, and there are numerous societies, liter- 
ary, antiquarian, and political, which are directly auxiliary 
to it. Since 1867 there has been no Slav congress on a 
large scale, but rapprochements between the different sec- 
tions of the race have taken place from time to time. The 
most vital of the bonds forged in behalf of pan-Slavism 
is that which unites the young Slavs through the medium 
of the Sokols, or athletic societies. These are patriotic as 
well as athletic, and are being formed all over the Slav 
countries which they unite in a friendly rivalry. There is 
a national Sokol Union which includes associations all over 
Europe and even among the Slav emigrants in America. 

At present the bogey of the pan-Germans is an Austrian 
empire where the principle of federalism shall replace that 
of centralisation, thus depriving the Habsburg dynasty 
(and the German Austrians) of their chief weapon, while 
the predominance of autonomous Slav states in the feder- 
ation will turn the scale finally in favour of Slav against 
Teuton. 



CHAPTER XIV 

POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 

The study of politics in Austria-Hungary is complicated 
for the British or American reader by the fact that al- 
though he may be acquainted with the theory of parlia- 
mentary government upon which the systems of the two 
countries rest, he will not necessarily be able to understand 
the way in which it is worked. One of the Hungarian 
leaders recently took advantage of this circumstance to 
enlist the sympathies of English people by postulating a 
case in which the scene was moved from Hungary to Great 
Britain. The defeat on vital questions of a great political 
party was described as being followed by the calling of the 
Opposition by the King, who, instead of instructing the 
putative Prime Minister to form a government to carry 
out the mandate given to his party by the electors, asked 
him, certainly, to form a cabinet, but at the same time 
required him to carry out the desires of the sovereign, and 
not of the nation as expressed at the election. Naturally 
this presentation of the case is likely to win sympathy from 
the British public, and, moreover, it is in its broad features 
a true account of what happened after the final destruction 
of the Liberal party in Hungary in 1904. It is, however, 
at the same time utterly misleading, because the parlia- 
mentary systems of Austria and Hungary are quite differ- 
ent in their workings from that of Great Britain. It is, 

289 



290 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

indeed, impossible to appreciate the political situation 
without a knowledge of history, and although the readers 
of this book already understand the relations of the two 
halves of the Dual Monarchy, it is here necessary to reca- 
pitulate them in brief. 

Everything in Austro-Hungarian political life dates 
from 1867. At that time the King ratified the Hungarian 
Constitution and bestowed a similar one on his Austrian 
lands. In doing so he entered, as Emperor of Austria, 
into an arrangement with the independent allied kingdom 
of Hungary. His own constitutional position was defined 
in so doing. Hungarians accepted the arrangement, 
though a certain number of irreconcilables refused to ac- 
knowledge it, and Louis Kossuth died abroad rather than 
do so. Like all constitutions, the Hungarian one is not 
in the form of a treaty or single document but is the 
growth of centuries, partly founded on fundamental prin- 
ciples recognised by the rulers and partly on long-estab- 
lished custom. The position of a king in such a constitu- 
tional monarchy is affected more by precedent than by 
actual law. Our own monarch, in a phrase which has be- 
come dear to the stickler for " constitutional rights," 
y reigns but does not govern. The King of Hungary both 
reigns and governs, though he is bound to govern with the 
will of the people; but conversely the people cannot govern 
without him. The King and Parliament are indivisible 
for this purpose. King Francis Joseph has successfully 
asserted his prerogatives, in that he has actually refused 
to sanction bills passed by both houses of parliament. 
Without his sanction they are of course invalid, as they 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 291 

would be in any constitutional monarchy. King Edward 
VII. could exercise a similar prerogative, but, whereas 
it is inconceivable that he should do so, it is a fact that 
King Francis Joseph has done so, and their position 
is therefore entirely different. The same difference, in 
practice if not in theory, exists in the choice of the re- 
sponsible ministers through whom the King must govern, 
and who must countersign any acts or ordinances of his. 
In Great Britain the choice of the King is governed by 
exigencies over which he has no control. Custom, prece- 
dent, and the smooth working of the party system impose 
on him a course of action in which his own private con- 
victions or desires must not play any part. On the 
contrary, King Francis Joseph is equally within his con- 
stitutional privileges when, on the dissolution of one gov- 
ernment, he chooses the political leader (outside that gov- 
ernment) who is most likely to carry out the views of the 
Crown, and entrusts him with the task of getting together 
a party which will command a majority in the House. In 
both cases the theory of the parliamentary majority rep- 
resenting the will of the nation (without which the con- 
stitutional monarch may not govern) is carried out in the 
letter. The comparative merits of the two systems are 
neither here nor there, and as a matter of fact, without 
the system of proportional representation and a number 
of other electoral reforms, the " will of the nation " is as 
little, or as much, expressed by one form as by the other. 
The result, however, in Austria and Hungary is to make 
the relations of the Crown and the ministers, and of 
the ministers and the political parties, quite foreign to 



*•- 



292 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

anything within the experience of parliamentary life in 
Britain. The ministers are the servants of the Crown 
rather than of parliament, and the political parties have to 
shape a programme which the Crown will sanction before 
they are likely to be asked to take office. In the event of 
a deadlock the Crown, which is bound to summon parlia- 
ment at stated intervals, can exercise its prerogative and 
dismiss it on the same day. It was the exercise of this 
power which recently created such a sensation in Hungary 
when, like Cromwell, the King dissolved parliament with 
an armed force to support his authority. 

Besides the Austrian parliament and the Hungarian 
parliament, and the Austrian government and the Hun- 
garian government, there is that debated land of Common 
Affairs over which the Delegations hold sway. The Hun- 
garian dislike of creating anything like a dual parliament 
led to the extraordinary device of these two bodies, debat- 
ing separately and not allowed even to speak to each other, 
like two children whose mothers will not " make friends." 
They communicate in writing and, if it is necessary to take 
a joint vote, they vote without debating! The position 
of the Emperor and King towards this amorphous crea- 
tion was naturally defined by the compact of 1867 which 
gave rise to it. The ministers of common affairs (Kaiser- 
lich und Koniglich) are also responsible to the Emperor 
and King, a mutual responsibility complicated by the obli- 
gation to obtain a third ratification, from the Delegations, 
who in their turn are answerable to the parliaments of the 
two countries. The King on his side is responsible also to 
the ministers and parliaments, with one extremely impor- 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 293 

tant reservation. In the department of defence he is, as 
Commander-in-Chief, not responsible to anyone in the 
appointment of officers or the organisation of the army. 
The minister of war is not required to countersign acts 
dealing with these, 1 though responsible for such mat- 
ters as commissariat, equipment, and the technical side, 
while the parliaments of the two countries, by the stand- 
ing laws, retain the control of recruiting. The contingent 
of recruits is voted annually by each parliament, and in 
case either refuses to contribute their quota there is no pos- 
sible means of coercion. 

The parliamentary situation in the Austrian half of the 
monarchy is complicated by the disunited nature of the 
autonomous " provinces," which are represented. If one 
could imagine the state of affairs at Westminster, with, 
members of parliament coming from half-a-dozen coun- 
tries and races as widely opposed as the most recalcitrant 
Irish and the most uncompromising " Saxon," the compo- 
sition of the Austrian parliament could, perhaps, be real- 
ised. When the Ausgleich was made it was believed that 
both Hungary and Austria, mutually helpful, would be 
able independently to control the elements of disunion 
within their own borders. How far this expectation has 
been fulfilled will be partly shewn by the story of the 
growth of parties in Austria. 

In 1867 the German element in Austria was the richest, 
most powerful, best educated, and most widespread of the 
peoples of the " lands represented in the Reichsrath." 
This section alone was in favour of the arrangement with 

1 Law of Dec. 21, 1867. Par. 5. 



294 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Hungary. The Slavs of Bohemia and Moravia, although 
not in a position to prevent it, protested by the one means 
in their power : by absenting themselves in a mass from the 
Reichsrath, which was therefore in the awkward predica- 
ment of having to try to carry on government without the 
consent of some of the most important provinces. The 
tactics adopted by Beust were to dissolve the provincial 
diets of the two Czech provinces and, by influencing the 
great landowners, to secure a German majority in the 
new diets. As the provincial diets elected the members 
for the Reichsrath at this time, this manoeuvre was suc- 
cessful in obtaining for the latter the necessary deputies, 
who were, moreover, likely to support Beust's policy. At 
this time the majority in the Reichsrath belonged to what 
was known as the German Liberal party, and the opposi- 
tion parties (who did not coalesce) were the Feudal-Cler- 
icals (members of the old-fashioned Catholic and aristo- 
cratic families, who resented any disturbance of the old 
form of government, or any innovations in social or re- 
ligious legislation) and the three national parties of Ital- 
ians, Slovenes, and Poles. The policy of the Liberal Gov- 
ernment in introducing anti-clerical laws, as to marriage, 
schools, and religious privileges, was approved by the ma- 
jority in the Reichsrath, but met with opposition in the 
country, where the autonomous provincial governments 
refused to carry out the laws. The Poles, as has been said 
before, (though all Catholic in principles) came to terms 
with the Government, which gave them, in exchange for 
their support in the Reichsrath, important concessions re- 
garding language, railroads, and educational questions. 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 295 

The Czechs stood out, declared Bohemia to have nothing 
in common with Austria except the dynasty, and finally ^ 
broke into riots which had to be repressed with martial 
law. 

The German Liberals might have held their own but 
for divisions within, and now began to develop that in- 
variable appendage of any Liberal party — an extreme sec- 
tion, or Radical Left. The head of the ministry was Count 
Taafe, a man of moderate and conciliatory views, who was 
above everything an opportunist. He resigned to make 
way for a less conciliatory minister, but the Poles and 
Slavs by refusing co-operation forced the formation of a 
fresh cabinet in which Taafe and Potocki returned to 
office and once more tried to get a majority together by 
conciliating all the races. The result of this policy was to 
please none, for the period was one little calculated for 
allaying race feeling, being that of the Franco-Prussian 
war and of important events in Italy. The Emperor was 
inclined, by the failure of Taafe to get a majority, to lean 
to another political party, and although the Liberals still 
predominated in the House, Count Hohenwart, represent- 
ing the Feudal-Clerical and Nationalist elements, was 
called on to form a ministry. The impossibility of carry- ^ 
ing through any important bill, in the teeth of a majority 
not pledged to support the Government, appears to the 
English reader to be an insuperable objection to such a 
ministry, but the Liberals themselves were disunited and 
undisciplined. Nevertheless they did reject a bill in the 
Lower House, whereupon the time-honored practice was ]/ 
resorted to of dissolving the provincial diets, capturing 



296 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

as many of them as possible by means of pressure on the 
great landowners (who, of course, were largely included 
in the Federal-Clericals) , and thus securing a fresh Reichs- 
rath with a majority friendly to government. This was 
done and the Czechs joined in accomplishing it, receiving 
as a reward a rescript suspending the fundamental laws 
and acknowledging the peculiar rights of their country. 
This constitutional change aroused, however, a unanimity 
of feeling among the German Austrians which caused 
them for the time to sink party differences, while the south- 
ern Slavs and Poles immediately began to clamour for 
similar concessions. Finally Hungary (with her own sub- 
ject races to consider and a large Slav population) threw 
her weight into the balance; the Federal party lost the 
support of the Crown under this pressure, resigned, and 
was succeeded by a government with precisely opposite 
views. 

This was the Auersperg Cabinet, which lasted from 
1 87 1 till 1879, and by the usual method restored the Ger- 
man Liberal majority in the Reichsrath. In 1873 a ^ aw 
was passed which made a great reform in the method 
of electing the deputies to the Reichsrath, who were no 
longer the choice of the provincial diets but elected 
direct by the voters. No reformy however, was made in 
the electoral basis, which was founded on the class system 
and gave such an enormous preponderance to certain sec- 
tions of society. The final break-up of the Auersperg Cab- 
inet was due not so much to racial disputes as to the 
internal dissensions of the Liberal party, which broke up 
into three factions, each of which formed a " club." The 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 297 

part played by these in Austria resembles that of the French 
clubs of the revolutionary period rather than of the great 
political clubs of England. Affairs were discussed and the 
action of members decided on, and the Liberal clubs did 
not feel themselves bound by ties of party loyalty to the 
Government, but criticised it freely, and even voted against 
it, till at last the Auersperg ministry could no longer main- 
tain its position. 

One of the chief disintegrating factors was the war be- 
tween the Church and Liberalism of the more advanced 
type. Foreign policy also was the subject of disagreement, 
and the renewal of the commercial arrangements with Hun- 
gary, which fell due in 1877, was the subject of great 
dissension. 

The next ministry, under the conciliatory Taafe, was 
designed to put an end to internal squabbles by uniting all 
races and religions in one government. The cabinet con- 
tained a German Liberal, a Clerical, a Pole, and even a 
Czech. The Czechs had hitherto maintained their atti- 
tude of aloofness and of refusing to recognise the consti- 
tutional position, but for some time a party had been grow- 
ing which, under the name of the Young Czechs, was in 
favour of abandoning the attitude of passive resistance in ^ 
favour of an aggressive political campaign. The Old and 
the Young Czechs at this time effected an understanding 
and came into the Reichsrath, while the deputies who be- 
longed to the Old party became firm supporters of the 
Government. 

We now find the Austrian Parliament composed of a 
Left (the Radicals and advanced Liberals), the Centre or 



298 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

Liberals, and a Right, which was made up of most hetero- 
geneous elements — Czechs, Slavs, Poles, and Conserva- 
tives — not at all at one in their views, but supporting the 
government for what they hoped to get out of it. On the 
whole, however, they were agreed in preferring federalisa- 
tion to centralisation, but they were not strong enough to 
force any vital change in this direction in the teeth of the 
objections of the bureaucracy (so powerful in Austria) 
and of the army, always opposed to decentralisation. The 
German Liberals, at first supposed to take a share in this 
combination government, went into opposition almost im- 
mediately, and their representative in the ministry re- 
signed. Ostensibly their chief grievance was the policy 
of concession to the Slavs, but in reality neither Czechs 
nor Poles got any very substantial reward for their services 
to the Government. 

It is obvious that such a party government as this gave 
the widest scope for exercise of the talents of the Em- 
peror in effecting political combinations and compromises, 
and in fact the Reichsrath became an instrument on which 
he could play. The influence of the Czechs on parliamen- 
tary life was the chief factor in breaking up this artificial 
harmony of discordant and disunited elements. The 
Young Czechs had formed a strong party which con- 
demned the attitude of submission which was bringing 
little reward, and they moreover joined in violent opposi- 
tion to a scheme for settling the race difficulty in Bohemia 
by carefully separating Germans and Czechs and assuring 
to each equal influence and equal rights. This would have 
been fatal to the Czech ambition of recovering the su- 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 299 

premacy of their race in their own country, and such a 
storm of national feeling was raised that the project fell 
through. 

A fresh appeal to the country, in the hope of securing a 
majority for the moderates of all parties, was far from 
successful. The Old Czech party was nearly wiped out 
by their more violently patriotic countrymen and the Ger- 
man Liberals, still in a majority, strengthened the Left 
rather than the Centre. 

In October, 1893, Count Taafe fell, after a term of 
office lasting fourteen years, but the cabinet which suc- 
ceeded him was not a new one, except for the inclusion of 
a German Liberal. The peculiar conditions of Austrian 
political life are well illustrated by this circumstance, and 
it is interesting to note that the personality of the leader 
seems to count for more than the policy of the party he 
represents. The revolt was against Taafe, of whom the 
Reichsrath was tired, just as, at a later date, Koloman 
Tisza met with a similar fate in Hungary. 

The coalition cabinet formed in 1893 was wrecked 
chiefly on a language question relating to the revival of 
Slovenian in Styria. A four months' ministry under Count 
Kielmansegg was succeeded by another under Count Ba- 
deni, the Polish governor of Galicia, who announced, as 
Count Taafe had done at a previous period, that he should 
hold himself above all race feeling and party politics but 
would respect the priority of the Germans. Despite this 
announcement, the name of Badeni will go down to pos- 
terity forever linked with the language ordinances, which 
granted to the Czechs the use of their own tongue in the 



300 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

internal administration (for which they had been contend- 
ing) and thus united the German factions in one wave of 
passionate indignation and made the resignation of the min- 
ister inevitable. 

In the stormy history of the Austrian chamber no 
scenes more violent have been enacted than those which 
greeted this attempt to conciliate the Czechs. Vienna was 
on the point of revolution, and only the immediate inter- 
vention of the Emperor and the recision of the ordinances 
restored anything like order. Needless to say, the Czechs 
did not accept their disappointment quietly. It will be re- 
membered that, in the early 'seventies, the German Lib- 
erals began to split up into " clubs," and that the Left 
section which emerged continued to gain in influence. In 
1878 this extreme party took on itself a fresh complexion 
by adopting the principles of pan-Germanism. At first 
this propaganda was a small one as regards its influence in 
the Reichsrath. It was first introduced to that body by 
the deputy Schoenerer, when he announced that there was a 
growing desire among Austrian Germans for union with 
Germany, but a definite policy was not formulated till 
1882, when the Linz programme was announced, which 
demanded the exclusion of the purely Slav " lands " (Ga- 
licia, Bukowina, and Dalmatia) from Austria, and com- 
plete inclusion within the German customs union. This 
extreme German propaganda did not meet with very wide 
support until the Badeni ordinances of 1897 gave such an 
impetus to German nationalism. After this time the utter- 
ances of Schoenerer and his party became actively treason- 
able, for the Habsburg dynasty was declared to have 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 301 

surrendered to the Slavs, and the Hohenzollerns were held 
up as more worthy of German allegiance. 

The burning question of the position of the Church was 
another of the disuniting factors within the German ranks, 
and now became involved with that of nationality, but, as 
this movement has been described already in the chapter 
on pan-Germanism, it need not be treated at any length 
here. The rise of Socialism, itself divided into Christian 
Socialism and International Socialism (a distinction chiefly 
lying in the respective attitudes of the groups towards the 
Jews, the first being extremely anti-Semite, the latter pro- 
moted by Jews) , was another split in the German Liberal 
camp, but the divisions in the main are only three, for the 
various groups coalesce on certain vital points. 

First come the constitutional landed proprietors, with 
a considerable representation under the present electoral 
system. They are Centralists, Catholics, and opposed 
equally to amalgamation with Germany or to any radical 
change in the constitution of the country. Second, there 
is a group which favours federalism and also includes a 
certain number of great landowners, the Conservative Cler- 
ical Popular Party, and the Christian Socialists, with those 
Radicals and Democrats who do not favour the pan-Ger- 
mans. It must be understood that all these parties have 
little cohesion, and are only grouped together as favour- 
ing federalism, rather than increased centralisation, or (the 
other extreme) amalgamation with Germany. The third 
group is the small but growing one formed by the pan- 
Germans, whose demands we have already stated, and 
who are supported in part of their programme by the most 



302 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

powerful (numerically) of all, namely, the German Pop- 
ular Party. These two, the Pan-Germans and the Popu- 
lists, are the only parties which are not intensely loyal to the 
dynasty, and in the main to the Catholic church. 2 

After the crisis caused by the Badeni ordinances a period 
of the greatest confusion ensued and the Austrian Cham- 
ber was the scene of wild disorder. Baron Gautsch was 
made Premier and attempted to restore order, but only 
held office for two months, and during his premiership it 
became necessary to close the universities, which were in- 
fected with the general political excitement. In the spring 
of 1898 Count Thun, a member of a noble Bohemian fam- 
ily, took office, and attempted to placate both sides by 
including in his ministry one of the great German land- 
owners and a Young Czech. He also endeavoured to sup- 
press the pan-German agitation, put down the students' 
association " Teutonia," which was anti-Austrian in char- 
acter, and arrested some of the German pastors who were 
mixing treason to Austria with their " Los von Rom " 
propaganda. The result was that his reputation as a Slav- 
ophil caused his fall, and in the 1901 elections the extreme 
Left party increased their representation in the Reichs- 
rath and for the first time secured the election of one of 
their party to the Delegations. The retirement of Count 
Thun was followed by a three months' tenure of office by 
Count Clary, who endeavoured to maintain himself by 
German support. In the year 1900 the Emperor called 

2 The Bohemian political parties are, the Old and the Young Czechs, the 
Progressives, Realists, Socialists, National Socialists, Agrarians, Conserva- 
tives (large landowners), and one or two minor groups. 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 303 

a fresh ministry, with Korber at its head, which at first 
seemed likely to get along peacefully. In a short time, 
however, the Czechs began to reiterate their demands, and 
after more stormy scenes the Reichsrath was again dis- 
solved. At the elections of 1901 the Clericals lost heavily 
and the Extreme Left increased its numbers, the Schoen- 
erer group of pan-German Radicals now numbering 
twenty-one. A feature of this period was the increasing 
enmity between these parties and the Church. In 1902 
the German Popular Party separated from the more mod- 
erate sections. 

The relationship with Hungary came up for debate 
on the question of the renewal of the commercial com- 
promise. A number of Austrian-Germans were entirely 
dissatisfied with the basis of the arrangement, and still 
more with the way in which it was always worked by 
Hungary, which is able, by political solidarity in the Del- 
egations, to get the whip hand. Korber went so far as to 
declare that without more favourable terms for Austria 
he would not sanction a fresh commercial Ausgleich, and 
the difficulties reached such an acute stage that he wanted 
to resign, but was persuaded to remain in office to avoid 
the chaos which otherwise must ensue. The new army 
bills were a great bone of contention, and the action of 
Hungary in refusing to ratify them led to a similar policy 
of obstruction on the part of the Czechs and Croats. 

In 1905 Gautsch took office again, an appointment 
which was made by the Crown in much the same spirit as 
that which, shortly after, dictated the calling of Fejervary 
to form a Hungarian cabinet. The Emperor and King, 



304 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

faced with irreconcilable opposition in each country, was 
making a desperate attempt to obtain a majority for the 
policy he favoured by means of compromises, but the un- 
success of these tactics ultimately led to a fresh phase 
(described more fully later on) in which the question of 
electoral reform was used to disarm the opposition in both 
countries. The expedient of giving his sanction to uni- 
versal suffrage was not dictated by any demand for that 
reform in the Austrian Parliament, though a measure of 
electoral reform had long been pressed for. On the 
whole, all the Slav nationalist parties are favourable 
to the scheme, except the Poles, who naturally oppose 
bitterly any measure which would put power in the hands 
of the Ruthenian peasants. The German Liberals are 
somewhat divided in their opinions, but the Clerical Party 
are not opposed to it, except that portion closely allied 
with the old Conservatives. The Socialists are naturally 
delighted, and the Government is now devoting itself to a 
consideration of the best basis for the reform. In this 
rapid survey of the course of Austrian parliamentary his- 
tory since the Ausgleich too little has, perhaps, been said 
of the Hungarian question in Austria — that is the ever- 
recurring problem of "the relations of the two halves of 
the monarchy. If all internal questions between Germans, 
Czechs, Poles, Slovenes, Clericals and Anti-Clericals, Na- 
tionalists and Federalists could by some miracle have dis- 
appeared there would still have remained this perennial 
source of discontent. The German party particularly, 
although in its old form responsible for the Ausgleich, is 
now far from united in approving the basis on which the 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 305 

two countries are joined together, and is practically unani- 
mous in declaring that, whatever the changes made, they 
must not be in favour of Hungary, which already has 
much the best of the bargain. 

As said already, Hungary, by means of greater solidar- 
ity, has actually been the predominant partner. In the Dele- 
gations, for instance, while the Hungarian members are 
elected by the parliament without restriction and form a 
compact body, the Austrians, who must be taken from each 
province in due proportion, are disunited by all the ques- 
tions of race and party. The advantage of Hungary is 
obvious. Moreover, although the Hungarian Parliament 
is by no means a calm and peaceful one and contains many 
discordant elements, yet on questions of race the govern- 
ment can always count on a majority. The Magyars, in 
fact, display to a very high degree the power of organisa- 
tion for political purposes, and despite the intensity of 
party strife the general tendency has been more and more 
towards settling down to a steady and non-extreme form of 
parliamentary government. In recent times a less admir- 
able temper has shewn itself, as we shall see, but it is to be 
hoped that the moderate party will ultimately prevail. 

When Francis Deak, one of Hungary's greatest states- 
men and patriots, succeeded in carrying through the com- 
promise of 1867 with Austria, there was a large body in 
Hungary which did not approve, and, except for the great 
following which Deak, as a patriot, commanded, the 
measure could not have been ratified in the Hungarian 
parliament. A ministry was therefore formed from his 
followers, with Count Andrassy at its head, as Deak him- 



306 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

self did not wish to take office, but the true government 
was the " Deak Club." The opposition (which on any 
question of race advancement became at once converted 
into a government party so far as its Magyar members 
were concerned) was formed of the Right, or moderate 
opposition, including the aristocratic and clerical party, 
in close sympathy with Vienna and opposed to any liberal 
changes ; the Liberal Left, an intensely nationalist Magyar 
party, formerly opposed to the Ausgleich and upholding 
the constitution of 1 848 ; and the Extreme Left, made up 
of the non-Hungarian deputies, chiefly Roumanians and 
Slavs. 

Andrassy remained in office till 1871, and was succeeded 
by Lonyay, who was forced by charges of corruption to 
resign after a year, when Szlavy took his place but held 
it only till 1874, after which an even more short-lived 
cabinet was formed under Bitto. The years between 1867 
and 1875 saw a great change in the political situation in 
Hungary. At first the Deak party, a liberal ministerial 
majority, devoted themselves to the work of reconstruction, 
and to a steady policy of strengthening the Magyar ele- 
ment, and especially of introducing the language through- 
out the country. In 1873, however, Deak himself retired 
and the party began to go to pieces. The financial crisis 
of the same year and the scandals over railway concessions 
shook the Government, which was, moreover, involved in 
heavy expenditure which meant extra taxation and conse- 
quent unpopularity. The Left now removed the great 
bar which had prevented it from coming into office by 
withdrawing its opposition to the 1867 compromise, and 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 307 

a great Liberal party was formed out of the Centre and 
Left, with the best and most moderate men of each, under 
the leadership of Count Tisza, whose ministry lasted for 
fifteen years. The change made by the accession to power 
of a party containing the elements of the old irreconcila- 
bles naturally brought about a more vigorous nationalist 
policy. Only the Extreme Right — the conservative-cleri- 
cal aristocratic body — and the Extreme Radical Left 
were in opposition, but Tisza commanded a large ma- 
jority, and it looked as if his term of office might last till 
the end of the century. His autocratic temperament and 
the sternness of his attitude towards all who opposed him 
and towards subject races were, however, against his con- 
tinued popularity, and in 1890 he uttered some disparag- 
ing remarks about Louis Kossuth, in whose honour the 
Left had organised great demonstrations, and, as the result 
of a stormy scene in the Chamber, resigned. His general 
policy was much the same as that of the Deak party, but 
he increased the centralisation of power. Among the suc- 
cesses of his administration were the conversion of the 
Austrian National Bank into a joint concern for the two 
halves of the monarchy, the nationalisation of the rail- 
ways, and the adoption of the zone tariff, which has done 
so much for the prosperity of Hungary 

After a short ministry under Count Szapary, Dr. 
Wekerle, the Minister of Finance, took office in 1892, 
and by this time the increase in the extreme Left, or Radi- 
cal section, forced government to take up questions of 
Church and State. These had been postponed as long as 
possible to avoid the disunion in the national ranks which 



308 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

these controversial points had raised among the German 
Austrians and might be expected to raise in Hungary 
likewise. 

Laws establishing civil marriage, religious liberty, and 
the legal equality of the Jews were passed with the aid 
of the Left, but were rejected by the Magnates, supported 
(it is said) by the King. The ministry resigned, but as 
no new one could be formed without the support of 
Wekerle and his friends, they were reinstated, the King 
withdrew his opposition, the Magnates gave way, and 
the compulsory civil marriage bill was passed, while other 
measures also went through both houses triumphantly. 
Wekerle, however, resigned at the desire of the King, 
under strong Catholic pressure, and Baron Banffy took 
office in 1895. He proceeded on the same lines as Wekerle 
in passing bills granting religious freedom. In 1897, 
when the renewal of the commercial compromise fell due, 
Banffy pledged himself that, failing an understanding with 
Austria within a year, he would propose to Parliament 
the economic independence of Hungary. The condition 
of obstruction in the Austrian parliament entirely pre- 
cluded the conclusion of a fresh compromise and, as we 
have seen already, the mutual economic relations were 
carried on provisionally by Imperial and Royal procla- 
mation. 

Early in 1899, when Banffy was compelled to resign, a 
ministry was formed under Szell, and the renewal of the 
commercial Ausgleich relieved the congestion of affairs 
to a certain extent. For the next two years, until 1901, 
comparative peace reigned in the Hungarian parliament, 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 309 

but the increase of anti-Magyar feeling in Austria, chiefly 
due to commercial jealousy, found a reply in Hungary 
and fed the flames which burned among the Magyar Inde- 
pendence Party. It must be mentioned that the Nation- 
alist Party had split in two, the extreme section which 
desired complete separation being led by Francis Kossuth, 
son of the old patriot of '48. The Nationalists proper, 
under Count Albert Apponyi, did not go quite so far, 
being for one thing loyal to the dynasty, but a few years 
later a reunion was effected, and the two parties are now, 
nominally, united under a programme which, while refus- 
ing to recognise the 1867 compact, is still favourable to 
the retention of the common crown. In 1903 began the 
agitation over the new army bills, and the " language of 
command " question became a prominent feature in the 
Nationalist propaganda. A campaign of obstruction en- 
sued, which led to the most violent scenes both in and out 
of the chamber. Count Stephen Tisza, son of the old 
Liberal Premier and heir to the Liberal traditions, tried 
in vain to form a Cabinet. He and his party are upholders 
of the Ausgleich, and although identified with the name 
Liberal in Hungary are rather the Tory Moderate Party. 
Baron Hedervary, the successful autocratic Ban of Croatia, 
was asked to form a Cabinet, and did so by dropping the 
army bills for the time, but King Francis Joseph was by 
no means in favour of these concessions, and announced 
his intention of maintaining all his prerogatives as regards 
11 my army." He flung down the gauntlet to the Inde- 
pendents, and summoned Hedervary again, but in 1903 
this minister was succeeded by one who was expected to be 



3 io THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

more successful in obtaining a genuine support from par- 
liament, and Count Stephen Tisza took office. For two 
years he held things together with a strong hand, but 
despite his high character, his autocratic temper made him 
enemies, and private jealousies, aided by his lack of tact 
and organising power, eventually caused his downfall. 
When he saw the opposition gathering force he tried to put 
through a coup d'etat to smash the obstruction. An altera- 
tion in the standing orders was carried, but the most 
violent scenes followed, and after a struggle Tisza was 
forced to resign. 

The break up of the once great Liberal Party and the 
final defeat of Count Stephen Tisza took place in 1905, 
and by this time the second great reorganisation of 
parties in Hungary was accomplished. With Tisza's fall 
the old Liberal Party melted as if by magic, nor are there 
any signs at present of its revival. The defeat of the Lib- 
erals was effected by a coalition of four groups which have 
been formed out of the Extreme Right and Extreme Left 
of earlier days. These were the Clerical Independents, 
the Independence party under Kossuth and Apponyi, the 
Clerical People's party, and the Liberal Dissentients or 
Andrassy group. The Clerical Independents have been 
fused with the Independence Party, which for various 
reasons is now the most prominent in the state and the 
one whose leaders make most noise in the world. In 1905 
this party represented the old Irreconcilables or Extreme 
Nationalists, who seemed at one time to have almost dis- 
appeared, merged in the Liberals. They desired the aboli- 
tion of the compromise of 1867 so that Hungary might 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 311 

return to the status of 1848, when for a short time she 
was an entirely separate kingdom. The connection of the 
son of Louis Kossuth with this group gives it a fictitious 
resemblance to the Patriotic Party of 1848, and with him 
is associated the picturesque figure of Albert Apponyi, the 
Magyar orator, whose fine periods and impressive appear- 
ance have made him the effective representative of his 
country in England and America. The two Clerical par- 
ties are united in their desire to increase the influence of 
the church, to check the growing power of the Jews, and 
to repeal the civil marriage and divorce laws, but, while the 
Clerical Independents join with Kossuth's party, the Cler- 
ical Populists desire the maintenance of the Ausgleich 
with a progressively separatist interpretation. The An- 
drassy group, whose leader belonged to the Liberals by 
tradition and was originally the close friend of Tisza, has 
considerable influence through his great historic name 
and family. He was left somewhat stranded by the events 
of 1905 and maintained a sort of balance between Tisza 
and the Opposition, but finally threw his weight against 
the former, influenced it is said by personal feelings, which 
had much to do with the fall of the Liberal premier. Like 
his father, Count Tisza, a man of high attainments and 
sterling character, was lacking in the tact and suppleness 
essential for the difficult task before him. Besides the 
four main groups there was one other, composed of the per- 
sonal supporters of ex-Premier Banffy, and these five bod- 
ies, all taking such different points of view, were in 1905 
bound together by a solemn pact for the overthrow of the 
Liberal party and government. It is believed that, be- 



312 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

cause the tie that unites them is so slender, it was thought 
necessary to strengthen it by a solemn form of oath or 
pact; certain it is that no sooner was their object accom- 
plished than the yoke began to gall some of them consid- 
erably. The pact binds all members of the Coalition to 
hold together under all circumstances during the duration 
of the new Parliament, while, as a whole, the Coalition 
is not to sanction any policy not acceptable to any of its 
parts. It is hard to imagine any legislation which might 
not be vetoed by this arrangement, but, having made it, 
the Coalition leaders dare not break it. At the time it 
was made they expected only to act as an opposition, and 
the situation is now one which some of them would never 
have faced had they expected to take office. 

One of the last acts of Count Tisza was to put through 
the commercial treaties with Germany, to which reference 
has been made, his desire being to checkmate the Inde- 
pendence party by presenting them with the accomplished 
fact, so that the commercial compromise must be renewed. 
The King wished Tisza to continue to hold office, but that 
minister was neither able nor willing to continue to gov- 
ern without parliamentary support. The King therefore 
called on Baron Fejervary, an old soldier, whose personal 
devotion to his sovereign did not permit him to refuse, and 
who had been Minister of National Defence for a quarter 
of a century. With some difficulty Fejervary got a cabinet 
together, but, despite his high character and personal pop- 
ularity, it was impossible not to realise that he was ap- 
pointed against the sense of the parliamentary majority 
and represented the sovereign but not the people. He 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 313 

was, in fact, defeated at once in the House, but was in- 
structed by his sovereign to remain in office and try to 
come to terms with the Coalition. The latter had now 
crystallised their joint ambitions into a demand for the 
use of Hungarian as the language of command, a plank 
in the nationalist platform which is discussed on its own 
merits in Chapter X. The suggestion of minor conces- 
sions, as we have seen, was rejected by the Coalition, and 
with frank cynicism some of the party allowed that the 
language question was not the end but the beginning of 
their demands. 

The new Minister of the Interior, a young Liberal, Mr. 
Kristoffy, now had the idea that the only way to break up 
the Coalition was to raise some question on which they 
were fundamentally divided, and accordingly he proposed 
a scheme of universal suffrage. The opposition of the 
Crown to such a revolutionary proposal delayed its sanc- 
tion for some time, and gave the Coalition time to con- 
sider its position and to organise resistance on new lines. 
The quondam leader of the Liberal government, Count 
Tisza, came forward as a bitter opponent of the proposal, 
which is indeed far from palatable to a large majority of 
the conservative and liberal landowners, who have the old 
aristocratic prejudices against popular government and 
who are also afraid that the vote given to the Slav and 
Roumanian population will shake the dominant position of 
the Magyars. This suffrage question must be touched on 
again, as it is undoubtedly one of the most crucial in the 
history of modern Hungary. Meanwhile, because of the 
condition of deadlock caused by the disagreement between 



3H THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

the King and Parliament, affairs throughout the country 
were in a state of ex lex. Taxes could not be collected, 
officials resigned rather than be identified with an unpopu- 
lar government, and it was with the greatest difficulty 
that a cabinet could be kept together. Fejervary, a high- 
souled and high-principled Magyar, was placed in a most 
painful position, but the debt of gratitude he owed to 
his sovereign (who had saved his life during a severe ill- 
ness by sending to Berlin for the necessary surgical help 
and paying all expenses himself) did not allow the old 
soldier to waver in his fidelity. The Coalition were offered 
office on terms, but these they would not entertain, and 
Fejervary had to remain at the post of duty as the target 
of the Opposition. The Parliament had, by law, to be 
summoned at intervals every year, but the Crown has the 
power to dissolve it at once, and this was done by the 
King in June, September, October, and December, 1905, 
and again in February, 1906. In view of the opposition 
shewn to the commissary who, in February, was charged to 
enter the House and read the Royal rescript, Francis Jo- 
seph promptly backed his prerogatives with force and 
sent a colonel and soldiers with drawn swords to carry 
out his orders. The Coalition leaders, being advised that 
their legal position did not allow them to resist this order, 
submitted for the time, but signed a declaration that, on 
March 1st, 1906, when by law the Parliament must again 
be summoned, they would refuse to be dissolved and would 
remain sitting. Such procedure would be flat rebellion. 
The most dramatic situation which, in modern times, 
has occurred in any State or Parliament was thus created. 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 315 

The ides of March were indeed awaited breathlessly, for 
only a little more than a month's respite remained before 
the momentous decision had to be made. The King 
was reported to have decided to meet rebellion by a re- 
turn to absolutism, and indeed, holding the strong views 
he does about the union and maintenance of the Ausgleich 
intact, it was hard to see what other step he could take. 
An additional difficulty was created by the fact that the 
new commercial treaties were to come into force on March 
1 st, and as they involved numerous changes in the tariff it 
was essential that some parliamentary government should 
be in existence to issue the necessary instructions. This 
Parliament had therefore to be summoned by the middle 
of April. 

The Coalition, it must be mentioned, had at first tried 
to make terms with the Crown, but their tactics had se- 
verely angered Francis Joseph, because, while their repre- 
sentatives avowed that all they wanted was the dismissal 
of the Fejervary-Kristoffy Cabinet, the leaders openly de- 
clared that they would only make peace on terms of sub- 
stantial concession. After this the old monarch refused 
to negotiate, and, summoning the Coalition to his pres- 
ence, read them his list of conditions and curtly dismissed 
them. 

Up to the end of the first week in April nothing was 
done and chaos reigned. Fejervary, it is said, urged his 
master to avoid the crisis by not summoning the parlia- 
ment at all, but Francis Joseph was firm in his determina- 
tion that he would fulfil the letter of the constitution and 
let the first breach (if made) come from the other side. 



3i6 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

On Monday, April 9th, the summons for the new Parlia- 
ment had to go out. On Saturday the miracle happened. 
At the eleventh hour the Coalition and the Crown came 
to terms, which were actually arranged on the last day of 
grace, and by these terms of Coalition took office. They 
" reserved their principles," and agreed to carry, on the 
business of the country during the next two years, to pass 
a universal suffrage bill, and to vote the supplies so long 
in arrears. Concessions as to commercial relations are 
believed to have secured this compromise. 

The vital questions of the language of command, eco- 
nomic independence, and, practically, of the continuance 
of the Dual Monarchy, are thus postponed, and when they 
come up for consideration it will be in a parliament elected 
for the first time on a democratic basis. The Premier is 
"Dr. Wekerle, and the transition government contains prac- 
tically all the leaders of any note except, of course, Count 
Tisza, who has retired into private life on his estate. 
There is Francis Kossuth, leader of the Independence 
party and heir to the prestige and popularity, as well as the 
rather inflated eloquence of his father, but not to the men- 
tal and physical stamina of that remarkable man. That 
the son of Louis Kossuth, who died in exile rather than rec- 
ognise the hated Habsburg as King of Hungary, should 
now be a minister of that same Habsburg is one of time's 
revenges. The younger Kossuth is more pliable than his 
father, but he and his party still stand for the idea of com- 
plete separation and the repudiation of the Ausgleich. 
With him is Count Andrassy, one of the party who 
wrought the work of '67, the inheritor of the Deak tradi- 



POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 317 

tion, if there is such a thing as political consistency. Dr. 
Wekerle, who introduced the anti-clerical laws, and Count 
Zichy, a Catholic, are colleagues, and towering over all is 
that handsome, specious, frothy politician who, beginning 
life as a Don Quixote, now gives one the impression of an 
American demagogue — the great Hungarian nobleman, 
Count Albert Apponyi. 

For a short time an unwonted calm reigned. In May 
the Emperor went to Budapest to unveil the statue of King 
Stephen, and although his reception was not demonstrative, 
it was, at least, respectful and cordial. The Premier took 
the opportunity of making a speech which sounded like a 
lecture on constitutionalism for the benefit of the monarch, 
who may have had some moments of amusement in reflect- 
ing on the " constitutionalism " of the King-Saint, his pred- 
ecessor, in whose honour they were gathered together. 
By autumn, 1906, a new crisis arose, with reference to the 
levy of recruits for the common army, which the King 
desired and the Hungarian government refused. A secret 
pact with the Coalition gave the King the right to demand 
recruits in case of " unavoidable necessity," and the Eu- 
ropean situation seemed to him to fulfil those conditions. 
The Hungarians, however, saw only an opportunity for 
wringing from him fresh concessions. 

The year of 1905 was a wasted year for Hungary, a 
period in which the condition of the parliament precluded 
any useful legislation and hindered the actual carrying out 
of existing laws. It is to be hoped that the short respite 
now gained will be used to the best advantage. 



CHAPTER XV 

FOREIGN RELATIONS — AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND EUROPE 

At the end of our historical sketch we said that the con- 
clusion of the war with Prussia began a new epoch for 
the territory ruled by the Habsburgs, in that, their fron- 
tiers being settled, their distracting interests in non-con- 
tiguous possessions of their House no longer the predomi- 
nant feature in their policy, their pretensions to Italy 
forever quashed, and their exclusion from Germany made 
certain, they were now at liberty to devote themselves to 
the consolidation of their power within their own borders 
and the reconciling of conflicting elements. Despite the 
confusion of subsequent periods, the present state of sus- 
pense, and keen racial conflict it cannot be denied that the 
progress of the two halves of the Dual Monarchy in the 
years that have elapsed has been far from unsatisfactory. 
Their finances have been restored, communications have 
been opened, education has been brought up to date under 
State control, the armies have been reorganised, and social 
legislation on a liberal and humanitarian model has been 
introduced. In short, both Austria and Hungary are on 
a higher plane as modern civilised countries than ever be- 
fore, and there is no reason to suppose that, under a Habs- 
burg regime, this improvement would not be maintained. 
Hungary, of course, is rather inclined to take the attitude 
11 alone I done it ! " Moreover, she likes to speak con- 

318 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 319 

temptuously of Austria as old and worn out, of Vienna 
as a " dead city," and to believe herself the only progres- 
sive element in the Dual monarchy. Bohemia, which has 
an equally strong claim to youth and progressiveness, is 
inclined also to disclaim any assistance from " German " 
sources. The outsider, who sometimes sees most of the 
game, is obliged to ask himself under whose guidance the 
Ship of State for both countries has been, almost entirely, 
during the period that has seen these progressions towards 
economic and social prosperity. Francis Joseph has, at 
least, deserved credit for preserving his country from inter- 
national complications. 

The geographical situation of Austria and Hungary, 
and the ethnographic affinities of many of the peoples of 
both countries, give rise to a number of possible points 
of collision with the surrounding nations. We have 
already seen something of this in the pan-German agita- 
tion, but whatever the aspirations of the German nation- 
alists may be, it is certain that, since the fall of the Slavo- 
phil Count Thun, Berlin and Vienna have been on the best 
of terms, and the former has been embarrassed and an- 
noyed, rather than pleased, by the pan-German demon- 
strations and the attempt to glorify the Hohenzollerns at 
the expense of the Habsburgs. The treaty of 1879, 
signed by Bismarck and Andrassy, bound Austria and Ger- 
many to assist each other in the event of an attack by 
Russia, or by France and Russia, and some years later the 
inclusion of Italy in this compact formed the Triple Alli- 
ance which has been repeatedly renewed. The terms are 
not actually known, but there is good authority for believ- 



320 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

ing that Germany and Italy are pledged to support each 
other from French attack, while Austria and Italy promise 
to maintain benevolent neutrality in case either is attacked 
by Russia. It will be seen that Austria is only pledged to 
give active support in case of an attack by Russia, and 
claims no assistance except against Russia. The elimina- 
tion of Russia as a possible aggressor consequent on her 
internal disorders, therefore, makes the Triple Alliance of 
little effect in binding Austria, and it is an open secret that 
Italy is by no means contented with the possibility that 
she might have to assist Germany against France or 
against any other Power joined with France. The recent 
Anglo-Franco-Italian entente has, in fact, rather cut the 
ground from under the feet of the Triple Alliance, which 
only continues to endure because of the difficulty of repu- 
diating it. The action of Italy at Algeciras was indicative 
of her feeling, as she declined to support Germany, and 
the telegram in which the Emperor William thanked Aus- 
tria for the correctness of her attitude was intended as a 
reproof to Italy. It did not, however, meet with much 
gratitude in Vienna. 

The elimination of Russia, while it immediately removes 
one of the bogeys of Eastern Europe — the possibility of a 
Slav reunion under the hegemony of the great Slav em- 
pire — increases the delicacy of the situation both as 
regards Germany and the Balkan States. Germany is 
now far freer to pursue her ambitions in the Near East, 
and is, in fact, taking every opportunity she can find, not- 
withstanding the opposition of Great Britain, to strengthen 
her influence in Asia Minor and secure her great desire, a 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 321 

port on the Persian Gulf and a railway towards it, which 
would act as a counterpoise to the two great routes to the 
Far East — the Suez canal, controlled by Britain, and the 
Siberian railway. To make such a communication com- 
plete, however, a more direct and easily controlled route 
to the JEgean than at present exists would be necessary, 
and Austria, credited with the design of pushing through 
Novi-Bazaar (already linked with her own system) and 
southeast to Salonica across Macedonia, is an important 
factor in the case. An Austrian state in which German 
influence predominated, possibly within the German cus- 
toms union, united to Germany by ties of blood and tradi- 
tion, would be a valuable ally in such a matter. Pan-Ger- 
mans, of course, regard the affair as settled. Their maps 
shew " German " territory stretching out boldly to Salon- 
ica, the great line running thence without break from 
Berlin, and so on down the Bagdad Railway (fringed with 
German agricultural colonies) to the Persian Gulf. That 
there should be an " all-German " line to the East is the 
dearest hope of the Chauvinists and even of more mod- 
erate people, and, without making too much noise about 
it, the most exalted personage in Germany casts a favour- 
able eye upon these dreams. Whether Austria will allow 
herself to be the cat's-paw in this matter is not yet clear. 
A great deal depends on the issue of the internal strug- 
gles which are at present rending her and upon the con- 
tinuance or severance of the Dual monarchy. As for the 
possible political absorption of Austria by Germany, it 
may be doubted whether the latter would welcome any 
such addition to her internal troubles, but this subject 



322 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

has already been touched on and need not be elaborated 
here. 

The relations of Austria and Italy are of a delicate 
character. The settlement, after the defeat of Austria in 
1859, left her still in possession of lands which, although 
belonging by hereditary right to the House of Habsburg, 
are Italian both geographically and ethnographically. The 
same racial situation is found in Switzerland, however, and 
it is by no means certain that political boundaries need 
coincide with those of race or geography. The rise of 
Italy as a modern power and the renewal among her peo- 
ple of a real national patriotism has, however, affected the 
Italian lands of Austria very keenly. Chief of these is the 
Trentino, the district on the southern slope of the Alps 
so well known to tourists as the Italian Tyrol. The ports 
of Trieste and Fiume are other centres of Italian irre- 
dentism, and in the event of any dispute between Austria 
and Italy it would be difficult to hold the coast for the 
former in view of this internal sympathy with the latter. 
The Italian fleet, as is well known, is far superior to that 
of Austria, and altogether the outlets to the sea of this 
great Central European country (in which Hungary is 
included) cannot be regarded as secure. Under the cir- 
cumstances there would be nothing astonishing in the fact, 
if demonstrated, that Austria and Hungary look towards 
Salonica as an alternative. But here we find ourselves at 
once involved in that forest of difficult questions with 
which the Balkan States bristle. 

The relations of Austria-Hungary (for in this case the 
Dual Monarchy must not be considered separately) with 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 323 

Servia and Macedonia arc directly involved by the pres- 
ence of the army of occupation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. 
There is no real distinction of race or language in this 
region, inhabited by the Serbo-Croats who spread right 
across the Balkan States and through Croatia-Dalmatia- 
Slavonia up to the country of the Slovenes. In August, 
1906, it was reported that the Serbo-Croats of Bosnia- 
Herzegovina were asking for incorporation with the 
Croats, and it is certain that sooner or later there will be 
a rapprochement among these peoples, for which end Ser- 
via is working quietly but heartily. Her own position, 
hemmed in by Austria-Hungary on north and west, by 
Bulgaria, her kinsman and rival, on the east, and by the 
amorphous Turkish provinces on the south, makes her 
peculiarly sensitive to the manoeuvres of the Great Pow- 
ers in Macedonia, where Austria, as one of the mandatory 
powers, has acquired a special position considerably 
strengthened by the present impotence of her coadjutor, 
Russia. 

In 1906 the rest of Europe became aware of a differ- 
ence of opinion between Servia and Austria as to customs 
matters, which, considering the bulk and character of the 
Servian trade (chiefly pigs), did not appear (to Europe) 
to be a very great matter. Servia, it seems, suddenly an- 
nounced a customs treaty with Bulgaria which infringed 
the rights of Austria under existing arrangements. That 
she should have made a treaty without reference to Vienna 
seemed a piece of defiance, in view of the fact that the bulk 
of her trade is with the Dual Monarchy. Austria-Hun- 
gary closed her frontiers to Servian pigs, to the great in- 



3 2 4 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

convenience of the people on either side who lived on the 
one hand by selling and on the other by eating them. 

In the 'pourparlers which followed Austria was deter- 
mined to make terms only on the consent of Servia to ob- 
tain certain armaments (for which she was anxious) 
through Austrian sources. At the time of writing Servia 
is still impenitent, has ordered guns from France, and seeks 
fresh markets for her pigs, with seeming success. A 
source of more pressing anxiety to her is the process 
by which Novi-Bazaar is being actively Austrianised. 
The Turkish vilayet which lies between Servia and Mon- 
tenegro contains the strategic key to Macedonia through 
which troops must pass to reach Turkey in Europe and 
which, moreover, commands Servia to a great extent. 
The army of the Dual Monarchy is supposed to maintain 
outposts there under the civil administration of the Turks, 
but a good deal more effective occupation than that of a 
mere outpost has been accomplished. At Plevlje, the 
centre of the vilayet, Austro-Hungarian barracks, quar- 
ters, and every sign of permanent and effective occupation 
are to be seen. The telegraph lines run there, and it is 
rumoured that a railway is planned, if not already in con- 
struction, to reach it. Other garrisons are maintained 
further East, as far as the Turkish amour propre will ad- 
mit, and the Servians say that Austria looks forward to a 
mandate from the Powers (as the only one with troops 
available) to descend upon Macedonia for the preserva- 
tion of the " oppressed Christians." Bulgaria, however, 
is playing a similar game, nor is Greece backward in her 
designs on the oppressed co-religionists. The sufferers are 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 325 

the unfortunate Macedonians of every creed, who are safe 
neither from their friends nor their enemies. In the event 
of a collision between any of these discordant factors, let 
loose by the removal of the Russian peril which had hung 
over them so long, Austria-Hungary would inevitably be 
drawn into the conflict — a contingency always present to 
her few real statesmen. 

A third range of possibilities is opened by the internal 
disorder of Russia. If the powers of anarchy prevail over 
those of centralised autocracy, either now or in the future, 
the Poles will certainly not lose the opportunity for re- 
gaining that independence of which they still fondly 
dream. In this struggle it is highly probable that the 
Polish provinces of Austria would take a part. There 
are many people within both Austria and Hungary who 
regard these appendages as worse than useless, and, indeed, 
they belong to another and non-European world. The 
effect of universal suffrage on these provinces would be so 
revolutionary that the Polish aristocracy, long the sup- 
porters of the Austrian government in the Reichsrath, will 
oppose it by every means in their power, and would even 
prefer an exchange of masters rather than run the risks 
of finding the suffrage in the hands of the Ruthenian 
peasantry. 

The extraordinary feature in the situation of the Dual 
Monarchy is the isolation of Hungary. Except for her 
association with Austria in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hun- 
gary, with her rampart of mountains on north, southwest, 
and east, and her southern boundary of great rivers, has 
little contact with great countries save on the northwest, 



326 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

where she meets Austria via the Danube. But she has 
a hostage to fortune in that hand stretched out to the Adri- 
atic and clutching Fiume, her one and only port, and she 
has, in Croatia and in Transylvania, subject races whose 
affinities outside the borders of the kingdom may yet cause 
her trouble. The Roumanian population of Hungary 
is nearly three millions, and is barely separated by the 
Southern Carpathians from that young and vigourous 
Roumanian state which, under a Hohenzollern prince, has 
made such extraordinary progress to prosperity and sta- 
bility and became a kingdom in 1881. The granddaugh- 
ter of the late Queen Victoria is the future Roumanian 
queen, and the energy and patriotism of the present king 
have wrought wonders for his adopted country. Ronmania 
irridenta is as popular a cry as the similar one respecting 
Italy, and the uncompromising attitude adopted by Hun- 
gary towards her Rouman subjects (who have been unable 
to win concessions like those made to Croatia) drives 
them into an attitude as friendly to Roumania over the bor- 
der as it is hostile to Hungary, their ruler. We have 
already dwelt on the other weak spot in the Hungarian 
armour — the Croatian province, with its growing desire 
for a fuller measure of autonomy and its sympathies with 
the Serbo-Croatian peoples just beyond in Bosnia and in 
Servia, and we have noted the suggestion of an amalgama- 
tion of these peoples. 

It will be seen from this brief sketch of the foreign rela- 
tions, present and possible, of the Dual Monarchy that 
the outside pressure which in time past was supplied by 
the Turks, and which held the heterogeneous provinces 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 327 

and kingdoms of the Habsburgs together despite internal 
friction, is not as absent from the present situation as 
some politicians would have us believe. In particular, the 
situation of Hungary as an independent state, owning no 
connection with Austria (save perhaps a common king) 
would be at once an isolated and precarious one. It is 
hard to see how she could successfully ensure her outlet on 
the Adriatic, the allegiance of Croatia, or the peace of 
Transylvania. Her own example is the one most closely 
followed by Croatia, and without the check of the armed 
occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina the Slavs of the Bal- 
kan States could spill over into Southern Hungary and 
keep the country in a perpetual ferment of politics and 
race animosity. The elimination of Russia, far from re- 
moving the Slav danger, increases it by letting loose the 
Balkan States, who will simultaneously have a severe attack 
of Chauvinism and Irredentism. True, as an armed state 
Hungary could hold her own, that is, unless the Croa- 
tians — among the best fighters in the Dual Monarchy — 
took up arms seriously against her at a critical moment. 
But Hungary has just pledged herself to a career of indus- 
trial expansion. The Magyar is no longer the wild rider 
of the plains, a horseman and fighter from his youth up, 
all spurs and mustachios ; he is a serious worker, a man of 
business, an industrial employer. To carry out a military 
policy adequate for her needs as a separate and independ- 
ent nation and country would be to cripple Magyar in- 
dustry and progress at the outset by imposing on Hungary 
the inevitable accompaniments of militarism. 

The lesson of foreign relations should, therefore, not 



328 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

be left unstudied by Hungarian patriots, nor is it to be 
despised by a large section of Austrians. The Czechs 
should moderate a policy of obstruction which may drive 
German Austria into the arms of Germany, and should do 
all they can to promote the continuance of an alliance be- 
tween Austria and Hungary in which Bohemia, by her 
wealth and progress, may play a moderating part. As a 
part of a German confederation her role would be less im- 
portant. However unfair the Ausgleich of 1 867 may have 
seemed to Slav interests in the Austrian lands, it created a 
state in which the Czechs have been gradually gaining more 
and more power. A moderate use of that power is the 
wisest course they can take, for their little kingdom is not 
ripe for independence, save in the sense of self-govern- 
ment, and while it must hang on to the skirts of a big 
country that country had better be Austria than Germany. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE DUAL MONARCHY AND THE DYNASTY 

There are two questions which rise to the lips whenever 
Austria-Hungary is mentioned in other countries : " Will 
the monarchy break up ? " " What will happen when 
Francis Joseph dies?" As a rule the general impression 
seems to be that the second question contains the answer 
to the first. The Emperor and King is so commanding a 
figure, the part played by him in the Dual Monarchy is so 
all-important, that it seems as if his removal from the 
stage must mean the immediate dislocation of the whole 
machinery. 

The reader of this book may perhaps be surprised that 
so little has been said directly about the striking person- 
ality of Francis Joseph. Everything that is known of 
him, however — which the rigid privacy of Austrian life 
permits to be known — has been so thoroughly canvassed 
that it is not possible to throw any fresh light on the subject. 
Everyone knows the outward appearance of the ruddy, 
healthy old man, his simple habits, the story of his sad 
married life, the fates of his only son and beautiful wife — 
the whole tragic story of a long and troubled life, in which 
the family formed no haven from cares of state. The 
unanimous opinion is that any ordinary man could never 
have survived the blows dealt at Francis Joseph by fate, 
coming on the top of a life of strenuous work and mental 

329 



330 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

worry. What has preserved him to a good old age, how- 
ever, is a certain toughness of fibre, both mental and phys- 
ical. His attitude in the recent crisis illustrates this, and 
is more indicative of his true character than the apparent 
vacillations by which he leaned, first to one and then to 
another side, in the earlier stages of the parliamentary 
struggles. Francis Joseph was brought up in a school of 
severe duty. His leanings to Czechs, Germans, or Mag- 
yars at different periods were apparently concessions to 
popular will, but they were equally expressions of his de- 
sire to be even and just to all his people. When it came 
to a question involving what he believes to be his own con- 
stitutional position — a question which will inevitably lead 
on to breaches in the 1867 compact — the Emperor and 
King shewed no sign of weakness. His attitude towards 
the "language of command" question is simply this: the 
army was created by the Ausgleich, and the Crown was 
especially constituted the organiser and controller of the 
army, which is neither Austrian nor Hungarian but uni- 
tary and common. The question of language was not 
raised at the time the army was created, but it is a military 
necessity that a unitary army should have one language of 
command, and for reasons of expedience as well as custom 
(and we may add compliment to the commander-in-chief 
or War Lord) that language is German and will re- 
main German so long as the Dual Monarchy endures. 
The only logical alternative would be to make the lan- 
guage of command Hungarian, but even the extreme Mag- 
yar party could not, in the interests of efficiency, make so 
wild a demand. It must not be forgotten that all minor 



DUAL MONARCHY AND DYNASTY 331 

concessipns as to the placing of Hungarian officers, the 
use of Magyar in instruction, the use of badges, flags, 
etc., have been promised or offered. The principle, how- 
ever, is reserved. 

The attitude of Francis Joseph towards the Magyars 
generally is a subject of contention. The great grievance 
is that he does not keep up a court or reside part of every 
year in Budapest, and it is certain that a few concessions 
to Magyar national pride in their capital would have gone 
a long way in softening their attitude. Francis Joseph is 
their own King, accepted and crowned by them in the 
church where all their kings are crowned, with the diadem 
of King Stephen and the traditional, half Oriental ritual. 
Magyars are extremely susceptible to such ties; they are 
aristocratic in their traditions and ideals and consequently 
monarchical. Maria Theresa, with a woman's insight, 
managed them better than any of her predecessors or suc- 
cessors. A little flattery, a little gratification of their 
sumptuary instincts would have gone far to modify their 
jealousy of their monarch as an Austrian and a foreigner. 
But Francis Joseph was no longer a young man when the 
Ausgleich put him on a footing with his Hungarian sub- 
jects in which such tactics became possible. He had had 
nearly twenty years of absolutism under the influence of 
reactionary and despotic ministers. He was, and is, of 
the true Austrian type, to whom new ideas penetrate slowly 
and who dislike change in their habits. Forced into the 
position of a constitutional monarch he interpreted his 
role, as we have seen, with the utmost freedom, and hav- 
ing, as he thought, met the desires of his Magyar subjects 



332 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

finally and conclusively in 1867, when he incurred the 
blame of Austrian-Germans and Slavs and handed over 
the Croats, he did not expect to make further concessions. 

This is one side of the picture. On the other we have 
Francis Joseph, dreaming in his young days of the restora- 
tion of the Holy Roman Empire and of the humiliation of 
Protestant Prussia. The lesson learned from the ultra- 
montane teacher of his youth had sunk deep into his soul. 
He was the champion of military and religious despotism, 
the enemy of liberalism and capitalism alike — the two pro- 
tagonists of the middle class industrialist. The dream 
castle fell in 1859 at Magenta and Solferino, but not till 
after Sadowa was his true destiny revealed to him. 
The Hungarians made terms with him which he could not 
refuse — this is " the other side " — or rather Beust made 
the terms in haste, anxious to form a solid state and to 
strengthen Austria as a revenge on Prussia. Barred out 
from Germany, deprived of the empire of his dreams, 
Francis Joseph turned eastwards. One thing is certain: 
both Deak and he intended the Ausgleich to be a perma- 
nent arrangement, while the modern Hungarian leaders 
regard it as a leasehold of the monarchy renewable on fresh 
terms at certain intervals. 

The process by which the Emperor has drifted away 
from his Austrian-German subjects can be easily under- 
stood, but in alienating the extreme portion of them he 
yet did not win the suffrages of the Slavs. As soon as the 
latter began to gain in power, so that the parties were more 
equal, the struggle became also more acute. It is easy to 
criticise his policy as vacillating, but the difficulties were 



DUAL MONARCHY AND DYNASTY 333 

inherent, not created by any lack of firmness on the part 
of the Crown. Taafe is reported to have said that the 
only way to rule Austria was to keep everyone perma- 
nently discontented, a saying which illustrates the diffi- 
culties of a monarch who is forced in his old age to aban- 
don absolutism for popular government. 

Nothing could have been more distasteful at first sight 
to the Emperor and King than the idea of universal suf- 
frage. The extent to which the great landowning class 
could be counted upon to come to the rescue of the minis- 
ters of the Crown in emergencies can be gathered from 
the political summary of a previous chapter. Both in 
Hungary and Austria these great and noble landowners 
form a class quite apart either from the gentry or the 
people, and they are almost invariably extremely loyal to 
the dynasty and to the Catholic faith. 

The basis of suffrage in Austria and Hungary alike is 
at present one of classes. The great mass of the people 
are not represented in either country, being either artifi- 
cially excluded, or even if they vote, deprived by the dis- 
tribution of seats of any real share in the parliamentary 
representation. 

Two views prevail as to the effect of including these 
people in a scheme of genuine representation. Kristoffy, 
the author of the suggestion, reckons that the inclusion of 
that large body of Hungarian landowners with as little 
as two acres — in reality a body of agricultural labourers 
with small holdings — would at least double the purely 
Magyar electorate. He and his supporters undoubtedly 
build on the fact that the non-Magyars (the Slovaks, Sax- 



334 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

ons, Croats, Servians, and Roumanians), are not to the 
same extent likely to fulfil a landowning and educational 
qualification which they intend to propose. The Magyars 
undoubtedly will adopt some such precaution, and for the 
time it may be sufficient, but the suffrage is a dangerous 
weapon with which to play, and to create in people the 
desire for a vote by dangling it just before their eyes is 
the first step to their getting it, by hook or by crook. This 
scheme would, however, break the power of the landed 
gentry, and it is opposed by such men as Count Tisza, not 
only because the Magyars have long been accustomed to 
declare that this small nobility class is the backbone of the 
country, but because it is difficult for him and his like to 
believe that their ignorant peasantry (often of several 
races) would be better off as free voters than they are 
under the sort of feudal and paternal regime on their es- 
tates, where the owner is his own overseer and personally 
looks after his people. The objection to the large class 
of workmen in towns who would be enfranchised is that 
they would elect socialists, who are inter-national or anti- 
national in views. In short, the chief fear of a great num- 
ber of worthy and patriotic Magyars is that the authority 
so jealously guarded in hands where the national honour 
and all questions of race were quite safe, despite party dis- 
sensions, should now devolve upon shoulders unaccus- 
tomed to it, upon people not imbued with Magyar tradi- 
tions and not yet sufficiently in touch with Magyar ideals — 
in some cases frankly anti- Magyar. 

In Austria the suffrage question was also unwelcome, 
but for different reasons. The danger of an increase in 




TRANSYLVANIA VILLAGE GYPSIES 




NOMADIC GYPSIES 



DUAL MONARCHY AND DYNASTY 335 

the socialist ranks is almost overshadowed in the minds of 
the Austrian Germans of every party by the dread of the 
overwhelming Slav majority which may be returned. 

The opinion of the Emperor and King on this momen- 
tous subject may be guessed by the difficulty with which 
his consent was obtained, although the situation was grow- 
ing desperate and it seemed the only weapon ready to his 
hand. The remedy must have seemed to him almost 
worse than the disease. The combination of clerical and 
demagogue foreshadowed by the agreement of the politi- 
cal parties which have received the proposal favourably 
gives the key to one reason which may have influenced 
Francis Joseph as a staunch Catholic. The failing power 
of the church, it is hoped, will receive a fresh lease of life 
from the popular support to be expected from the enfran- 
chised proletariat. The middle class, growing in wealth 
and influence, and above all the Jewish middle class, will, 
say the clericals, receive a crushing blow. There has been 
in the last few years a Catholic reaction against the growth 
of Protestantism and indifferentism in Hungary. Wekerle 
lost his first premiership because of the opposition to his 
anti-clerical laws, and in the present cabinet a staunch 
Catholic, Count Zichy, is included, as a sign that the breach 
has been healed. Apponyi, it may be noted, is a pupil of 
the Jesuits. 

In attempting any summary of the central European 
crisis, the possible turning point in the history of both Aus- 
tria and Hungary, as well as of the Dual Monarchy as 
one, the writer is bewildered by the kaleidoscopic nature 
of the problems presented. The great Whirlpool of Eu- 



336 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

rope seethes with hidden currents; only those which re- 
volve on the surface can be described and mapped out. 
We come back, however, to the main factor in the case, 
and that factor is the house of Habsburg. There is no 
special merit in this ancient house. Its members have only 
once or twice displayed exceptional qualities of any kind. 
But the Whirlpool had to have a centre, and the House, 
with its narrow dynastic policy, its line of obstinate cen- 
tralising rulers, and its military traditions, was the best 
centre that could be found. It outlived any other possible 
centre, it displayed vitality at the most unexpected points, 
and finally it remains to-day the link which binds together 
the most heterogeneous collection of peoples and countries 
the world has ever seen in one continental realm. De- 
spite the party differences, the nationalist aspirations, the 
religious disputes of the peoples of Austria-Hungary, an 
overwhelming majority of them are true in their loyalty 
to the dynasty. The personality of Francis Joseph has 
something to do with this, but it is not everything. The 
great misfortune is that his son, also the son of the gra- 
cious and sympathetic Elizabeth, did not live to reap the 
harvest sown by his father and mother in the hearts of the 
people. He could have gone much further in the way of 
concession to national and racial pride and yet retained 
his position. The present heir to the throne is little 
known and that little does not endear him to any section 
of his future subjects except the constitutional German- 
Austrians. But the judgment may be premature. As a 
ruler Francis Ferdinand may prove as complete a surprise 
to his people as the present King of Italy, who was as much 



DUAL MONARCHY AND DYNASTY 337 

overshadowed by his Berserker father as the present heir 
of the Habsburgs is by his popular uncle. 

Two alternatives present themselves in the event of the 
Monarchy continuing to run in double harness. The 
first is that, with the retention of the present form, Hun- 
gary shall be contented to increase her power by slow and 
legitimate means — means legitimate with a loyal adher- 
ence to the Ausgleich — until she is the predominant part- 
ner, in fact if not in name. To do this she must effectively 
control and absorb her subject races (by no means an ac- 
complished task) and at the same time she must support the 
dynasty and the national party in Austria. The Slavs must 
be kept in check. The other alternative is the develop- 
ment of a federalist form of government, which will give 
autonomy to all the nations claiming historic rights, in- 
cluding, of course, Croatia. The opponents of universal 
suffrage expect this to be one of the developments from a 
system which will give full play to all national parties. 
The present Emperor and King, as has been said, is en- 
tirely opposed to Federalism, but his successor may feel 
inclined to try a fresh form of Ausgleich which does not, 
like the 1867 compact, leave that most important factor, 
the Slavs, out of its reckoning. 

In any case, it is clear to anyone who cares to study all 
the forces at work that there is a centrifugal as well as 
a distintegrating power at work, and as a result of all the 
considerations, historical, geographical, political, and 
ethnical, which have been presented to the reader, one can 
only say that the dictum of Palacky seems to be abundantly 
proved — that Austria is essential to the balance of Europe. 



338 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 

To this we may add that, as Austria divided from Hun- 
gary would gravitate inevitably to Germany, the saying 
must be amended to include the Dual Monarchy and not 
Austria alone. Moreover, if the continuance of the Dual 
Monarchy is essential for Europe, it is also equally essen- 
tial for the true greatness and progress of each half of it. 
United they form a great central European Power; apart 
they would be at best two second-rate states surrounded by 
great and ambitious rivals. 




George Philip & Son.I>- d 



APPENDIX I 



DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 

IN 1900 



Population 



11,306,795 



8,751,817 



22,409,539 



3,757,544 



913,664 



47,139,359 



Races 



GERMANS 



MAGYARS 



SLAVS 



Czechs I 

(a) North \ | lo y, aks . I 
ci- Kuthenians 

Slav [Poles 

Slovenes 

Serbo- J 
Croats J 

.Bulgarians 



(b) South 
Slav 



ROUMANS 

(a) E. Rou- Moldo-Wal- 
manian lachians 



(b) W. Rou- 
manian 



Italians 

Friaulians 

Ladinians 



OTHERS 
Including Jews, Gypsies 
Armenians 
Albanians 



Chief Habitat 



Austria, the Tyrol, Styria, 
Carinthia, Carniola, Moravia, 
Silesia, Hungary, and 
Transylvania 

Hungary and Transylvania 



Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia 

Hungary 
Galicia and Hungary 
Galicia and Silesia 

Carniola, Styria, and Carinthia 

Croatia, Slavonia, 

Istria.Dalmatia, 

Hungary, Bosnia, 

Herzegovina, 

Hungary 

Hungary, Transylvania, and 

Bukowina 
Hungary and Transylvania 

Tyrol and Coastland 

Coastland 

Tyrol 



Widely diffused 
Transylvania and Hungary 
Bosnia 



APPENDIX II 

The racial proportions of the Austrian population in 1900, ktaen 
roughly in millions, were as follows: 

Germans 9 

Czechs ) 

Moravians > 

Slovaks J 

Poles 

Ruthenians 

Slovenes 

Servians 1 

Croats J 

Italians 

Roumanians 

Magyars and Others 



►Sb 



26 millions, of whom 15V& are Slavs. 

The racial proportions of the Hungarian population in 1^00, taken 
roughly in millions, were as follows: 



Magyars 
Slovaks 
Croats 
Servians 
Ruthenians J 
Roumanians 
Germans 
Others, less than 



Slav 



2 
1% 

1 

y 2 

23/4 

2 



19% millions, of whom 1(% were not Magyars 



Between 1850 and 1900 (a period of fifty years) the Slavs increased by 
seven millions, the Germans by four millions, the Magyars by three millions, 
and the Roumanians (Wallachs) by one million. 



APPENDIX III 
LIST OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES CONSULTED 

"The Holy Roman Empire." Bryce. 

" Historical Geography of Europe." Freeman. 

" Les races et les nationality en Autriche-Hongrie." B Auerbach. 

" Ethnographie der Oesterreichischen Monarchic" Von Czornig. 
s " L'histoire de l'Autriche-Hongrie." Leger. 
X " Le monde Slave." Leger. 

" Nouvelles Etudes Slaves." Leger. 
/ "Russes et Slaves." Leger. 

" Histoire Politique de 1'Europe Contemporaine." Seignobos. 

" Various historical works dealing with Austria." V. Krones. 

"Le compromis Austro-Hongrois de 1867." Eisenmann. 
/ "L'Autriche Contemporaine." Chelard. 

"La Hongrie millenaire." Chelard. 

"Aus drei Vietrel-Jahrhunderdten," (Memoirs). Benst. 

" The Court of Austria." Vehse. 

"The Magyars." Patterson. 
/ "Pan-Germanism." Anon. 

"Bohemia" (Story of Nations Series). Maurice. 

"Bohemia" (various publications). Count Liitzow. 

" Government and Parties in Continental Europe." Lowell. 

"L'idee de l'etat Autrichien." Palacky. 

" Histoire generale." Lavisse et Rambaud. 

Miscellaneous writings by Apponyi, Deak, Andrassy, Due de Broglie, 
Kramar, Brdf, Offermann, V. Brachelli, Hantich. 



INDEX 



A. E. I. O. U., origin and meaning 
of, 15 

Andrassy, and Bismarck, 89 

Andrassy, 306 

Apponyi, Albert, 309 

Army, 223 

officers, 227 

language of command ques- 
tion, 231 

loyalty of, 233 

Arpads, end of, 41 

Ausgleich, the, 83 

attitude of races toward the, 

294 

Austria, beginning of, 9 

empire of, created, 22 

Albert of, claims Hungary, 42 

and Slav rennaisance, 70 

war with Prussia, 76, 81 

attitude to Eastern question, 

88 

after 1866, 91 

" empire " of, 92 

Germans in, 93 

language in, 93 

distinguished foreign names in, 

94. 

influence of Jesuits, 95 

society in, 96 

character of aristocracy, 96 

Spanish influence, 96 

music, 102 

education, 105 

Jews, 109; socialism, 109 

task in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 

194 
" lands represented in the 

Reichsrath," 201 

finances, 212 

attitude in commercial dispute, 

241 ; taxation, 221 
labor legislation, 243 



Austria, rise of German national 
party, 245 

German element in, 293 

political parties in 1897, 297 

political parties, 301 

rise of Socialism, 301 

relations to Germany, 321 

relations to Italy, 322 

Austria-Hungary, state organisa- 
tion, 200 

" common affairs," 203 

the Delegations, 203 

commercial union, 204 

Austria, the constitution of parlia- 
ment, 205 

Austria-Hungary, parliamentary sys- 
tem, 207 

red tape in, 208 

civil service, 211 

finances, 216 

defence, 223 

——commercial Ausgleich, 237 

necessity for commercial unity, 

241 

question of commercial rela- 
tions, 303 

progress of, 318 

geographical situation, 319 

and the Balkans, 323 

Austria, customs dispute with Ser- 
via, 323 

Austria-Hungary, the lesson of 
foreign relations, 327 



Badeni, takes office, 299 

Banffy, 308 

Beust, sent for to Austria, 82 

helps to form Ausgleich, 83 

retires, 86 

Bismarck, and Andrassy, 89 
Bogomiles, 34 



343 



344 



INDEX 



Bohemia, first united to Austria, 13 

conversion of, 17 

battle of White Mountain, 44 

early history, 51 

derivation of name, 51 

and the Church, 52 

relations with empire, 53 

and Germans, 54 

becomes elector state, 55 

golden age under Charles IV, 

58 ; religious struggles, 58 

George Podiebrad, king of, 

60; comes under Habsburgs, 61 

persecutions in, 63 

invites Elector Palatine to be 

king, 65 

position of peasants, 65 

revolt of 1619, 65 

and Maria Theresa, 68 

language question, 85 

struggle against Teutons, 159 

literary revival, 160 

language question, 163 

early civilisation, 165 

music in, 166 

industrial development, 167 

position of peasants, 169 

education, 170 

industrial development, 171 ; 

emigration, 172 

Socialism, 172 

Jews in, 173 

scenery, 175 

first of Slav countries, 287 

suffrage in, 174 

Bohemian Brotherhood, 62 

discussions among, 64 

Bosnia-Herzegovina, occupation, 88 
Bosnia-Herzegovina, 187 

religion in, 188 

conquest by Turks, 189 

kinship with Servia, 190 

early civilisation, 191; scenery, 

191 

peasants, 193 

the Austrians in, 194 

Budapest, origin of, 152; royal 
palace, 153; neglect by King, 
153 . 

bridges over Danube, 154 

Jews in, 155 

names over shops, 155 



Budapest, stock exchange, Jews on, 

223 
Bukowina, 178 
Bulgaria, 28 

conversion, 276 

language, 277 

Centralisation, versus federalism, 

79 
Charlemagne, crowned Emperor, 3 

titles of, 6 

and the Slavs, 51 

Charles IV, Emperor and King of 
Bohemia, 13 

reign in Bohemia, 57 

Church, the, and Empire, 8 
the, and Bohemia and Mo- 
ravia, 17 

and Emperor, 18 

the, and German nationality, 

18 

and Emperor, policy of Joseph 

I, 20 
— —Joseph I curbs power of, 48 
and Bohemia, 52; and Mo- 
ravia, 52 

and Czechs, 59 

and Hungary, 146 

influence on daily life, 243 

Los <von Rom movement, 245 

and modern social life, 247 

and Hungary, 248 

and Slovaks, 248 

and German nationality, 301 

Coalition, in Hungary, 311 

in Hungary, takes effect, 316 

Cracow, university founded in 1364, 

273 f 
Croatia, given back to Hungary, 

8 3 
social system, 183 

Croatia-Slavonia, language, 180; 

religion, 179 
history of, 179; population of, 

180 

government, 181 

beautiful peasant dresses, 181 

Cyril and Methodius, mission of, 

52 

Czardas, the, 132 

Czech, derivation of name, 51 

Czechs, and the Church, 59 



INDEX 



345 



Czech, language purified by Huss, 

59 

Czechs, and Joseph I, 69 

Czech, chair of, founded at Prague, 

69 . . * 

Czech, insurrection of 1848, 73 

Czechs, protest against Ausgleich, 

84 

revolt of 1868-9, 84 

language question, 85 

and Teutons, 159 

renascence of, 160 

position in Austrian empire, 

163 

character, 164 

industrial development, 168 

in Army, 235 

Dalmatia, history of, 195 
Deak, 73, 305 

helps to bring about Aus- 
gleich, 83 
Delegations, functions, 292 

Education, in Austria, 105 

in Bohemia, 170 

in Hungary, 142 

in Galicia, 176 

Emigration, in Hungary, 123 
Elector Palatine, 65 
Emperor William II, and pan- 
Germanism, 253 
Empire, of Charlemagne, 3 

method of election, 5 

interregnum, 10 

relations with Bohemia, 53 

Federalism, versus centralisation, 

79 

Fejervary, 311 

Francis Joseph, comes to throne, 74 

repressive policy, 76 

neglect of Budapest, 153 

position as head of army, 231 

constitutional position, 291 

and Austrian parliament, 298 

unveils statue of King Stephen, 

317 

personality and history, 328 

attitude on army question, 330 



Francis Joseph, relations with Mag- 
yars, 331 

relations with Austrian Ger- 
mans, 332 

attitude towards universal suf- 
frage, 333 . . . 

personal loyalty of his subjects, 

336 

Franco-German war, 86 

Frankfort, Diet of, 21 

Franz Ferdinand, Archduke, heir 
to throne, 336 

French revolution, 21 

Galicia, condition of peasants, 176 

Jews in, 176 

Poles in, 176 

education, 176 

German nationality, awakening, 18 
German, capital and enterprise in 

Bohemia, 171 
rise of nationalist party in Aus- 
tria, 245 
nationality lost by emigrants, 

255 

ambitions in Near East, 321 

Germans, and Bohemia, 54, 59 

in Austria, 93 

Germany, Poles in, 256 

and Tyrol, 257 

and Switzerland, 257 

relations to Austria, 321 

Glagolitza, 280 

Golden Bull, of Charles IV, 5 

of Hungary, 40 

Guelphs, and Ghibellines, 8 

Habsburgs, origin, 1 
Habsburg, Imperial titles, 6 
Habsburgs, Imperial crown passes 

to, 12 
Habsburg, Rudolf of, successful 

policy, 13 
Albert of, Emperor and King 

of Hungary and Bohemia, 14 

origin of " Habsburg lip," 14 

family possessions of, 14 

Habsburgs, " family policy," 16 

and Church, 18 

comparative decline of, 19 

Francis II abdicates title of 

Emperor, 22 



346 



INDEX 



Habsburgs, early connection with 
Hohenzollerns, 60 

and Bohemia, 61 

persecute reformed religion, 63 

tyranny in Bohemia, 67 

policy in early 19th century, 71 

and Italy, 72 

expelled from Italy, 77 

position of in 1870, 81 

foreign influence at court, 94 

Habsburg-Lorraine, family of, 202 

Habsburgs and the Church, in 
modern times, 244 

Habsburg, house of, position in the 
Whirlpool, 336 

Hedervary, 309 

Hohenstauffen, House of, 9 

Hohenwart, 87 

Hohenzollerns, rise of, 18 

early connection with Habs- 
burgs, 60 

Horse, the Hungarian, 118 

Hungary, first united to Austria, 13 

sovereign kingdom, 37 

and Pope, 39 

and the Emperor, 39 

becomes bulwark against 

Turks, 41 

claimed by Albert of Austria, 

42 

revolt of Rakoczy, 44 

struggles against Turks and 

Austria, 45 

nationalist revival, 73 

repression of all national feel- 
ing, 76 

society in, 114 

the puszta, 117 

division of land, 118 

peasantry, 120 

——emigration, 123 ; condition of 
peasants, 124 ; the true Magyar, 
126 

dress of peasants, 130 

ceremonial dress, 131 

love of dancing, 132 

music, 135 

poetry, 136; literature, 136; 

language revival, 140 

education, 142 

revival of trade, 143 

trade subsidies, 144 



Hungary, railway policy, 145 

and religion, 146 

scenery in, 150 

connection with Austria, 202 

constitution of, 206 

the parliament, 206 

local government, 207 

finances, 219 

schemes for commercial inde- 
pendence, 238 

labor legislation, 243 

and the Church, 248 

parliamentary government in, 

305 

political parties, 310 

coalition in, 311 

isolation of, 325 

difficulties with Roumanian 

subjects, 326 
Huss, 18, 58 

Illyria, Kingdom of, 282 

Imperial titles, 6 

Italy and Habsburgs, 72 

expels Habsburgs, 77 

and the Trentino, 265 

relations to Austria, 322 

Jews, in Austria, 109 

in Budapest, 155 

in Bohemia, 173 

on stock exchange, 223 

Jesuits, suppression of, 48 

power in Bohemia, 64 

influence in, 95 

Jokai, Maurus, 124 
Joseph I, policy of, 20 
and Czechs, 69 

Kossuth, Louis, 73 
Kossuth, Francis, 309 
Kristoffy, and Suffrage bill, 313 
Kurucs, rebellion of, 42 

Land, division of in Hungary, 118 
Language, in Austria, 93 

of Croatia-Slavonia, 180 

Magyar, 139; revival of, 141 

of command, 231; Slovene, 258 

Slav, three divisions of, 272 

revival among Slovenes, 283 



INDEX 



347 



Language, Slovak, 285 

of Bulgaria, 277 

Badeni ordinances, 299 

question, in Bohemia, 162 

question, Slovene, 299 

Linz programme, 300 
Literature, Hungarian, 136; Czech, 
160; Polish, 177; Slav, 273; Bul- 
garian, 277; Ragusan, 279 
" Los von Rom," 245 
Louis, killed at Mohacs, 42 



Magyars, character, 34 

origin of, 34 

method of government, 36 

struggles against Turks and 

Austria, 45 

and Maria Theresa, 47 

tempted by Napoleon, 49 

privileges of nobility abolished, 

5° 
Magyar language, first spoken in 

diet, 50 
Magyars, early population, 113 
Magyar nobility, 114 

peasants, 120 

Magyars, love of land, 122 
Magyar character, 126 

a typical, 126 

amusements, 130 

love of dress, 131 

love of dancing, 132 

Magyars natural poets, 137 
Magyar language, 139 
Maria Theresa, 19 

accession of, 46 

and Magyars, 47 

and Bohemia, 68 

Mathias Corvinus, 42 
Maximilian, 19 
Mohacs, battle of, 42 
Moldo-Wallachians, 148 
Moravia, 29 

conversion of, 32 

and the Church, 52 

conquered by Magyars, 53 

independent action of Estates, 

64 

and pan-Germanism, 264 

Music, Austrian, 102 
Tsigane, 133 



Music, Hungarian, 135 
in Bohemia, 166 

Napoleon, and Imperial titles, 7 

occupies Vienna, 21 

tries to seduce Magyars, 49 

National Academy, at Budapest, 

142 
Navy, 235 
Novi Bazaar, strategic importance 

of, 324 

Otho the Great, titles of, 6 
his empire, 7 

Pan-Germanism, 250 

speech of Emperor William II, 

societies affiliated to, 259 

Pan-Slavism, 268 

origin of, 268 

Russia and, 287 

Parliamentary system, of Dual 
Monarchy, different to British or 
American system, 289 

Parliamentary government in Hun- 
gary, 305 

Parties, political, in Austria, 301 

Peace of Westphalia, 18 

Petofi, 136 

Pola, 198 

Poles in Austrian parliament, 177 

in Germany, 256 

early civilisation, 273 

possible complication with, 325 

Political Parties, in Hungary, 310 

Pope, the, and Italy, 78 

Pragmatic Sanction, 20 

confirmed by Hungary, 46 

confirmed by Bohemia, 67 

Prague, beautified by Charles IV, 

Prague, Huss and university, 59 
national museum and chair of 

Czech founded, 69 

beauty of, 165 

Premyslide dynasty, 56 
Premysl Ottocar, 10 

offered Imperial crown, 11 

Premysl Ottocar II, dominion of, 

56 
Prussia, war with Austria, 76 



348 



INDEX 



Prussia, war with Austria, Sadowa, 

Si 
Puszta, the, 117 
scenery of, 150 

Railways, in Hungary, 145 
Rakoczy, George, 44 
Rakoczy, Francis, 46 
Ragusa, 197 
Reformation, 17 

and Bohemia, 62 

Roumanians, origin of, 23 

Roumanians, 148 

Roumania, progress and prosperity 

of, 326 
Rudolf, elected Emperor, 3 

crowned King of Romans, 11 

duke of Habsburg, successful 

policy, 13 
Russia, place in pan-Slavism, 286 
elimination of, 320 

Sarmatians, 31 

Saxons, in Transylvania, 39 

in Hungary, 148 

Schoenerer, 300 
Serfdom, 36 

in Bohemia, 65 

Servia, 28 

throws off Ottoman yoke, 69 

conversion, 277 

early civilisation, 278 

customs dispute with Austria, 

323. 
Sienkiewicz, 178 
Slavs, origin of, 24 

distribution of, 25 

early union of, 25 

different names given to, 26 

character of, 27 

communism, 24 

Slav powers, Bulgaria, 28; Servia, 

28 ; Moravia, 29 
Slav, renaissance, 29, 69 
Slavs, social development, 29 

civilisation, 30 

become Christians, 32 

religious development, 33 

cut in two by Magyars, 53 

numerical preponderance, 157 

Southern, 179 

character, 185 



State organisation, 200 

Slovaks, and the Church, 248 

Slavs, extension of, 269 

independent states, at end of 

1 8th century, 269 

three divisions of language, 

272 

early literature, 273 

southern literary renaissance, 

279 

Slav, written character, 280 

Slovaks, 178 

language, 285 

Slovenes, 179; language, 258 

and pan-Germanism, 258 

language revival, 283 

— —language question wrecks min- 
istry, 299 

Socialism, in Austria, 109 

in Bohemia, 172 

rise in Austria, 301 

Society, in Austria, 96 

in Hungary, 114 

Spain, influence of in Austria, 96 

Suffrage, bill introduced for uni- 
versal, 304 

bill for universal, introduced 

by Kristoffy, 313 

universal, Austrian opinion, 

334 . 

universal, Magyar attitude to- 
wards, 334 

universal, possible results of, 

335 
Switzerland, and Germany, 257 
Szeklers, 148 



Taafe, 88, 295, 297, 299 
Thirty years' war, 18 
Tisza, Koloman, 307 
Tisza, Stephen, 309 

fall of, 310 

Trade, subsidies to, in Hungary, 

144 
Trade, Bohemian 

Hungarian, revival of, 143 

Transylvania, Bethlen Gabor, 44 

added to Austrian crown, 45 

old manners in, 125 

history of, 147; population of, 

147 



INDEX 



349 



Transylvania, religion in, 148; na- 
tionalist movement, 149 

Treaty, of Verdun, 4 

of Belgrade, 46 

of Vienna, 71 

Trieste, 197 

Triple Alliance, 89, 319 

Tsigane, music, 133 

Tsiganes, 133 

Turks, defeat of, 45 

conquer Bosnia - Herzegovina, 

189 

Tyrol, and Germany, 257 

races in, 265 

Utraquists, 60 

gain concessions, 64 



University, Budapest, 

Cracow 

Prague, 

Vienna, 105 

Verdun, treaty of, 4 

Victor Emmanuel, becomes king of 

Italy, 78 
Vienna, origin of, 9 

revolution in 1848 at, 74 

society and amusements, 100 

artistic life, 102 

university of, 105 

stock exchange, Jews on, 223 

Wekerle, 307 

White Mountain, battle of, 69 



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